《Totally Spiritual [Urban Fantasy LitRPG]》


 01 - A Regular Day

    "No, I swear, people these days just don''t get cinema anymore!"


    An obnoxiously loud voice carried through the already busy caf¨¦, just as it had been for the past five, uninterrupted minutes. It was as though the man that it belonged to was in some kind of competition to see who could be the most annoying and socially unaware. Meanwhile, the young woman across from him seemed to try and hide her face between her own shoulders to avoid the glares from the other people around. As though her silence was an invitation for him to continue, the man once more opened his mouth, "You can''t blame them though, the trash they show these days-"


    "An iced Caramel Cappuccino for you, and a simple black coffee for you," with a smile on his face, the young server placed two cups onto the table in front of these two customers, interrupting the ''conversation''. Staring up at him, the man clicked his tongue, quickly turning back to the woman across from him, but the server wasn''t quite done yet.


    "And it would be much appreciated if you could lower your voice, you are disturbing the other customers," he quickly added, wearing a professional smile on his face. The man scoffed and shook his head, as if he had just heard a distasteful joke.


    "This is a public place! What, we can''t even have a conversation in public anymore?"


    "Actually, Caf¨¦ Runic is a privately owned business, so if you''re not willing to quiet your voice, we reserve the right to remove you from the property," the server retorted before the customer had even been able to close his mouth again.


    With a click of his tongue, the customer glared back. But, he also started to notice the server tapping the wooden serving platter with his finger very obviously, basically wanting to drag attention toward it. And at the base of that finger, the server''s red and recently-bruised knuckles became apparent. As the man looked back up, seeing that customer-service smile combined with two absolutely unsmiling eyes, he meekly shrank back. Figuring that the problem was solved for the time being, the server looked at the woman seated at the table, giving her an encouraging wink before turning back around and heading toward the counter.


    "Ah, how little I miss having to deal with that myself," the man lazily leaning onto the counter said with a reminiscent smile, but the server just rolled his eyes in response.


    "You''re the owner, I''d actually appreciate it if you did ''deal with that'' every once in a while."


    "And what, take away my little knight''s job? I wouldn''t dare!"


    "Don''t call me that."


    As if hurt by the blunt rejection, the owner touched his hand to his chest, "What, your mother can call you that, but I can''t?"


    "Yes, actually," the server sighed loudly, glancing past the man in front of him, "Runar."


    "Ryan," the owner, Runar, replied with a puzzled expression, but Ryan just shook his head.


    "No, the milk is bubbling over."


    As the confusion on Runar''s face was replaced with panic, he turned around, seeing that he left the hose of the milk frother inside the pitcher and hadn''t fully closed the valve again. As he hurried to clean up after himself, Ryan heard the caf¨¦''s bell ring as another customer entered through the door. He looked around a little nervously before spotting the counter with Ryan stood in front of it and quickly approached him.


    "Welcome! How can I help you?" Ryan asked, returning back to his customer-service mode, and the young man kept glancing around the space, "Uhm, do you guys maybe have another door somewhere? My girlfriend can''t get through your main entrance..."


    With a raised brow, Ryan looked past the worried young man, spotting a figure stood in front of the door outside. Smiling, since this wasn''t the first time this happened, he motioned for the young man to follow him and walked over to the door. He pulled it open and stepped through, quickly looking up at the person in question, her single large eye starting to well up with embarrassed tears.


    "Hey, it''s all good, nothing to worry about!" Ryan said with a smile, trying to calm her down as he pulled the door shut behind him again. He then quickly stepped aside to make some space, "Just give it a try, reach out to the door."


    A bit confused, the young cyclops girl did as told, pushing her hand toward the door handle. As she did so, with a quiet sound of stone rubbing against stone, the bricks around the frame shifted aside to make way for the expanding wooden door.


    "We''ve got an adaptive doorway. Cyclops, Minotaur, Giant; as long as you fit into our main space, the door will work," Ryan explained, looking up at the surprised expression of the two customers, "We''re still trying to figure out how to make that more obvious. If you have any friends that also belong to larger species and enjoy some good coffee, feel free to let them know that our door opens for anyone."


    Excitedly, the young woman walked through the door which had now grown enough to let her pass through. Ryan followed behind and glanced at the door that returned back to its standard size, and guided the couple toward a table that could accommodate them both. And after taking their order, Ryan returned to the counter to pass it on to Runar.


    "Seriously, can''t we just put a sign out front? You know everyone''s always confused about that," Ryan complained, but Runar just groaned as he started working on the orders, "I know, I know, you''ve been annoying me about that for a few weeks. I''m working on it, okay?"


    "Why''d you even have to go with that kind of thing? That can''t have been cheap."


    "A friend offered to install it for free when I opened the place. And it''s much better than having three different doors or something, like some places do," Runar complained, "And if we don''t do that, it would have to be a single massive door, but a door for a three and a half meter Cyclops is going to be annoying for, like, a one meter Gnome to open. And I swear to the gods I refuse to get one of those stupid motion-sensor sliding doors."


    "What''s your issue with those anyway?"


    "They fucking ignore me all the time," Runar clicked his tongue, putting the finished orders onto the counter in front of Ryan, "When you''re done with that, go ahead and call it a day. You started early today, anyway."


    A bit surprised, Ryan looked back at Runar, "You sure? I don''t mind working a little longer. It''s pretty busy, y''know?"


    Runar locked eyes with Ryan, holding up his finger and pointing at him like a warning, "Don''t make me repeat myself. There''s some packages for you anyway, go take care of those. I don''t like the clutter."


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    "I''ve seen your bedroom, dude."


    "Point taken. Now shut up and get going already."


    Ryan smiled lightly, choosing not to fight against it. After bringing the ordered coffee and pastries to the young human-cyclops couple, he made his way to the back of the caf¨¦. He quickly hung up his apron, unlocked the door next to him, and walked up the stairs into the flat above the caf¨¦, grabbing the two cardboard boxes from the hallway on the way to his room.


    Ryan pushed shut the door with his foot and placed the boxes down on his desk, and then looked around for something to open them with. His eyes landed on his exacto knife and he quickly ran it through the tape holding the cardboard box shut. As he opened it up, a broad smile formed on Ryan''s face.


    "Oh hell yeah," he let out as he pulled the content out of the box; it was a model kit, depicting an old, and probably historically inaccurate, orcish armour. It was colourful and exaggerated, and an orc''s dark green skin peeked out underneath the armour''s cracks on the box art as the warrior prepared himself for battle.


    With a happy hum, Ryan threw the now empty cardboard box onto the pile next to his door, "I thought it was only going to arrive on Thursday."


    He placed the kit onto his desk and then glanced over at the other box. It was a lot heavier than the kit, and the name written at the top of the return address stuck out. ''Mary Locke''.


    He used the exacto knife to open this one up as well, and the first thing he saw was an old t-shirt that he specifically said he didn''t need anymore. With a sigh, he threw it over onto his bed to put it away later. The rest of the box was filled with bags of homemade cookies, some of Ryan''s favourite snacks, and a few non-perishables.


    He pulled out his phone and looked at his recent call list, dialling one of the numbers toward the top before he put his phone on speaker. As the call went through, Ryan put the box onto the ground and started to open the model kit, pulling his small toolbox over toward him.


    With a slight crackling, the call connected.


    "Hey mom," Ryan quickly said, "How are you?"


    "I''m well honey, I just got home!" Ryan''s mother replied with a happy voice.


    "How was work?"


    "Well, slow, nothing big happened. Someone still keeps stealing Janice''s lunch, and we think maybe it''s Sandra again, but we don''t know for sure," she replied, updating Ryan on matters related to people he never met and was never going to meet, as Mary usually does, "How are you doing though, how is school going?"


    "School''s fine, exam season''s over so things are pretty chill right now. I''ve been working more, and hanging out with Silvia and Modak and stuff," Ryan replied, as he started removing his new model''s individual pieces from the plastic frames with his clippers, before he put them into different sorting boxes to keep track of them.


    "That sounds nice, how are they doing? Oh and how is your uncle?"


    "Silvia and Modak are fine, they''re also just happy not to have to study all the time anymore. And Runar, he... well, he seems to be doing alright. Not any worse than he always does, at least," Ryan pointed out, lightly scoffing, "Honestly, I''ve got no idea how he''s been managing without me, though. The caf¨¦ is pretty popular, and Runar is... well, Runar."


    "Be nice to him! He''s letting you live with him rent free and even pays you for any work you do," Ryan''s mother replied, but he couldn''t help himself.


    "Yeah of course, I''m super grateful, but the guy never seems to sleep and is constantly walking around with circles under his eyes that make him look like an undead."


    For a few moments, the person on the other side of the call was silent, before quietly agreeing, "...Well, that''s also true."


    Ryan laughed silently as he continued clipping the pieces, a sound that was becoming clearer to Mary during this quiet moment.


    "Oh, are you doing another one of those toy model things?"


    Ryan stopped for a moment, trying to consider if it was worth it to correct her on the ''toy'' part of what she said. It wasn''t. It wouldn''t have been the first time anyway, "Yup, just got a new one. It''s apparently inspired by this 300CE armour from the orcish independence war, but I think the word ''inspired'' is carrying a lot of weight here."


    "Well, as long as it looks nice!"


    "I guess so."


    "That reminds me though, did my care package get there?" Mary asked, and Ryan quickly glanced over at the box next to him.


    "Yup, thanks again, by the way. You don''t always have to send me so much stuff. My shelf is filled with so many cans I''m starting to look like a prepper," Ryan pointed out awkwardly. He was happy to get packages from his mom so often, but at the same time, the guilt of having her do so much is something that he couldn''t help but feel just as strongly every time.


    "Nonsense! Better a prepper than starving!" with an immediate reply, Mary shut down any further complaints from Ryan, "But anyway, there should also be a small box at the bottom there, I found it in your dad''s old stuff. It has a bunch of those toy model tools, so I figured you might have a better use for them than I do."


    Surprised, Ryan raised a brow. He thought that at this point, they knew about all of his father''s stuff, so hearing his mom say that she ''found it'' was surprising, "I''ll take a look later and see what I can use. Thanks. But how are things on your side, you said there was another small street fest thing happening before?"


    "Oh yes, right!" Mary replied in an upbeat, excited voice, "I nearly forgot, but I met Johnny''s mother there, and apparently Johnny awakened recently! I think she said it was some sort of physical class, something like an Enhancer? Apparently he''s starting a business now!"


    Ryan held back his desire to sigh at that information. Johnny was a good guy for sure, so if anyone deserved to awaken, he did. Especially with the fame and flashiness that usually came with being an Enhancer specifically, it was better for a guy like him to get that class. At the same time, Ryan hadn''t spoke more than a sentence at a time with Johnny since 8th grade, so he couldn''t say that he particularly cared all that much. Though, maybe there were some slightly jealous undertones to that.


    The conversation continued like that, speaking of relatively mundane matters for around twenty more minutes. By the time the call was over, Ryan had removed all the model''s individual pieces and had even started flipping through the model''s guide to double-check that he had the right idea about all the pieces.


    "Make sure to eat well," Mary said, a smile audibly on her face.


    "I will, you as well, mom."


    "Of course. Love you, my little knight."


    "I love you too, mom. Talk to you later," Ryan said, as he reached over toward his phone, ending the call. He twisted his chair around and leaned forward to the care-package his mother had sent, shuffling through the items inside. And just as she had said, at the bottom of the box, Mary had hidden another small, but wooden box. He was surprised to see something as intricate as it was, considering how long it must have been stowed away and hidden. It didn''t seem like something that you would keep in an inconspicuous place. He pushed the latch to the side, and quickly revealed the objects within.


    Some clippers, a metal file, a couple of brushes, as well as needles and thread, and even a small handkerchief. It seemed to basically be a random assortment of stuff, but it was still pretty high-quality, even if at least two decades old. Not that he figured he would have any use for these. The tools that he had were newer, and in a clearly much better state. The ones in the box were all quite pretty though, with intricate patterns on their surfaces, so Ryan might clean them up and display them with his models.


    As he pushed everything in the box around, he noticed something glistening in response to the rays shining into it from the window. A thin red layer of light filling the box completely. It was a gemstone, neatly cut into shape. Not large by any means, barely half as big as his thumb, but it wasn''t something that he expected in here. Though, Ryan also didn''t expect a silk handkerchief, but something about that gemstone stuck out, as if it didn''t belong.


    He reached his hand into the box and picked up the red gem, the refracted light now covering his fingertips. Or at least, Ryan assumed that it was refracted light, but the shine was far too strong for just that. It was glowing, not through the sunlight, but through its own power.


    Ryan''s eyes focused on the stone, practically enthralled, he felt a sharp stinging, as if someone had stuck a needle into his eye from outside his periphery. But it didn''t really hurt either. It was intense and focused, but not painful. And as the feeling subsided, something entered his view.


    <hr>


    [Congratulations! You have awakened as a Spirit Keeper!]

 02 - The Spirit Keeper

    [Congratulations! You have awakened as a Spirit Keeper!]


    <hr>


    Ryan''s mind was filled with incoherent thoughts. A storm of words and ideas all climbing on top of each other, fighting for the spot at the front of his focus. Was he hallucinating? Was it some sort of elaborate prank? Or, was it possibly that somehow, maybe, he actually awakened?


    But, if that were the case, then his class was one that he had never heard of, which immediately made his heart skip a beat. It wasn''t something that he would admit to others, but even at his age he was still almost obsessed with the Awakened. He spent a lot of time on the different forums and wiki-sites talking about news or updates on different Awakened, and even more embarrassingly, he had basically every publicly known class memorized. So, either, the only people that awakened as a Spirit Keeper were those who felt like they needed to keep it a secret, or he was the first one who had ever awakened as one. Of course, either of those seemed more than just unlikely, so maybe Ryan had simply overlooked it. It could be a class that was so mundane and boring, that nobody paid it any attention, and even Ryan skipped past it.


    None of that really mattered in this moment, though. Ryan had awakened. Once he managed to collect his thoughts, his heart beating so loud that it drowned out the noise from the caf¨¦ right below his feet, and even that of the cars driving by and honking in this terribly loud city, he did what everyone did when they first awakened. He thought of the command prompt, and before he even consciously formed the words in his mind, the floating, vaguely translucent window appeared in his view.


    <hr>


    [Ryan Aglecard] [Age - 19]


    [Spirit Keeper | Level - 1]


    [MP - 18]


    [Stats]


    -[Dexterity - 1.12]


    -[Intuition - 1.01]


    -[Mana - 0.56]


    -[Sociability - 0.98]


    -[Spirituality 0.47]


    [Skills]


    -[Spirit Construction | Level - 1]


    -[Spirit Domain | Level - 1]


    -[Spirit Link | Level - 1]


    <hr>


    "...What?" Ryan let out in disbelief. Mana , Intuition, and Spirituality... he awakened as a Magical Class. Ryan Aglecard, who had never really shown even a hint of magical talent. Hell, he wasn''t even particularly interested in magic beyond what you saw on TV as a kid. His lowest stats were quite literally the two most important stats for a magic user; Mana and Spirituality. And it wasn''t even a contest.


    "There''s something... something wrong, right?" he muttered to himself, "I know that people awaken talents they didn''t know they had, but... seriously, a fucking magic class?"


    If he had known this was going to happen, then he would have taken Magical Theory instead of Physics in high-school. But that wasn''t what was important right now. Ryan looked down at his hand, and the red gemstone still held between his fingers.


    A mysteriously glowing gem he had never seen before, as well as a sudden awakening as a magical class he never heard of before. This was obviously connected somehow.


    Ryan took in a deep breath as he collected his thoughts. Keeping the gemstone in his hand, refusing to let it go for now, he walked over to his desk and picked up his phone. With a few quick motions, he pulled up a group chat and dialled. As usual, it didn''t take long for someone to pick up.


    "Yo, what''s up?" a deep and immensely tired voice asked, its owner seemingly distracted, and Ryan didn''t even hesitate to respond.


    "Modak, I need you and Silvia to come over, right now."


    "It''s like 5pm, the subway''s gonna be hell," Modak replied with a loud groan, "It''s not something we can talk about like this?"


    "No, it''s not, I-" Ryan started trying to explain, when the sound of another person joining the call interrupted him, and Ryan instinctively pulled the phone away from his ear in preparation for what was about to happen.


    "Hey, hey, hey, how''s it going?!" Silvia, the third of the group, energetically yelled as she always did when answering a call.


    "Ryan wants us to come over."


    "What? Do you know what time it is? The subway is going to be hell."


    "That''s what I said," Modak immediately replied, happy to hear his opinion seconded.


    "Who gives a shit, this is important, please come over," Ryan practically pleaded. His confusion and excitement were mixing into a mass of constantly whirring, storm-like thoughts that had him basically petrified at trying to figure out what he was supposed to do.


    The other sides of the call were silent for a few moments, as Modak and Silvia worried about their friend, "Are you alright? What happened?" Modak quickly asked, though Ryan could already hear footsteps and doors being pulled open, as his two friends already got moving.


    "I''m fine, I... I awakened," Ryan said bluntly, and the voices of his friends immediately died down. The only thing that Ryan could hear was the yelling of Modak''s younger siblings, echoing through their flat. By the point that Ryan wasn''t sure if something was wrong on the others'' sides, Silvia finally broke the silence.


    "Holy fucking- give me thirty minutes, I''ll be right on my-" she started yelling out, hanging up mid-sentence as she hurried to get ready.


    "Wait, are you serious? You awakened?" Modak questioned, clearly unsure if he heard right. At that point, three or four other voices popped up in the background of Modak''s call.


    "...wait, who awakened?" a woman, probably Modak''s mother or maybe his sister, asked, quickly parroted by the young voices of two of his younger brothers, "Someone awakened??" - "Who did?"


    Modak let out a loud groan as he tried to focus back onto Ryan for a moment.


    "Yes, I really, seriously awakened," Ryan once more announced with a smile on his face, and Modak almost immediately replied to him.


    "Alright, I''ll be right there."


    With a deep sigh of relief, Ryan dropped down onto the edge of his bed, "Thanks, man. See you in a bit."


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    As the call disconnected, Ryan placed his phone to the side, looking back down at the gemstone in his hand. His fingers rubbed over its surface, looking at it a bit more closely. If this gem was related to his awakening, then he should take care of it well. And as if it was responding right to Ryan''s thoughts, the soft glow, which had disappeared once Ryan took it out of the box, seemed to come back as a slow pulse. The light dyed his fingertips red, and a shiver ran over Ryan''s body as he noticed new windows pop up in front of him.


    <hr>


    [You have received a new Quest!]


    [Maximus¡¯ Request]


    [The noble Spirit Maximus is trapped in an ethereal form. Construct him a vessel so that he may protect the world once more]


    [Conditions ¨C Construct Maximus¡¯ Body with the provided materials]


    [On Success ¨C Maximus¡¯ Gratitude]


    [On Failure ¨C Maximus¡¯ Disdain]


    <hr>


    "Maximus?" Ryan read as he looked over the quest information. He wasn''t even surprised that he got a quest in the first place; at this point, any more surprise felt almost forced out of him. But what did worry him was that there was basically no real explanation, and he had no idea who the quest-giver was supposed to be. And then, there was something else important he couldn''t figure out.


    "What materials?" perplexed, Ryan looked back down at the gemstone, but as he moved his head, noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Wisps of red light, the exact same colour as the light coming from the gemstone, were floating over his desk. They were gathering together, forming a shape; some kind of box.


    Ryan jumped up and walked over. These were the ''materials'', then? Carefully, Ryan held out his hand toward the mass of light, holding his breath nervously. And then, the moment the tip of his finger touched it, the light scattered like a bunch of flies that had gathered on rotting fruit. And what was left behind in the light''s stead was a familiar-looking box, that quickly fell down onto Ryan''s desk with a loud slam. The box fell right on top of the model-pieces that Ryan had prepared during his call with his mom, flinging them all across the room. If his mind hadn''t gone completely blank at the sight of the object that appeared in front of him, he would have been pissed, but right now, he didn''t even care about those pieces.


    Because on the desk in front of him, he had a whole new model. A classic box with bright art on it, depicting a suit of armour in the middle of swinging his sword at some kind of training dummy. That''s what the light had given to him.


    These were the materials he was supposed to use to ''construct a vessel''.


    Maybe Ryan really did go insane after all, since there was no way this was what he thought, it was probably just the appearance of the box. Carefully, Ryan pulled open the box. Inside of it, neatly stacked on top of each other, were a number of frames holding a number of small model pieces. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief.


    "What the actual fuck is going on?" Ryan let out involuntarily, "What the... I... what?!"


    Ryan reached into the open box and pulled out the frames. They were definitely real. He could feel them press up against his skin, and he could feel their weight. Their... surprising weight. As Ryan pulled the frames out, they were way too heavy. The pieces and the frame holding them were made of actual metal, instead of the hard plastic they were usually made of. Tucked in-between the frames were thin sheets of leather and finely-woven fabric, each also prepared in a way to allow for smaller pieces to be cut out from them. Ryan dropped down onto his chair, not sure what to think.


    "I guess I''ll just get started?" he muttered, reaching out to his clippers, placing them against the edge of the first piece attached to the metal frame, and tried to cut through it. Just as he thought, it wouldn''t budge; it was metal, after all. Since he would prefer not to damage the clippers, he just put them to the side, grabbing his exacto knife to maybe get started with the leather. After placing it onto his cutting-mat, he tried to cut through the thin strip keeping the leather piece in place, but even then, he wasn''t able to cut through it.


    "Huh?" Ryan muttered, pulling over a piece of paper he had laying on his desk, and the knife cut through it with ease. But the leather didn''t even have a mark on it. And when he tried the same with the fabric, it didn''t work either. No imprint, nothing at all to even hint at the fact that Ryan was pushing down onto it with as much strength as he could. If he pressed it down any harder, he was worried the knife was going to break in his hand. Clearly, this wasn''t something normal. At least there was that, and his class wasn''t just related to building regular old models.


    Ryan glanced to his side, at his status window that was still open. His eyes landed at the bottom of the window. There were three skills, Spirit Construction, Spirit Domain, and Spirit Link. Just from the names, he figured the first of those three would be the one he needed right now. And as he focused on it, another window popped up in front of his face.


    <hr>


    [Spirit Construction]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency ¨C 0%]


    [Allows the user to construct the Spirits¡¯ physical bodies]


    [Effect ¨C Spirit Construction for 20 Minutes]


    [Cost ¨C 10 MP] [Cooldown ¨C 1 Hour]


    <hr>


    "That''s... not a very helpful description," Ryan muttered annoyed. Clearly it was the right skill, but he didn''t want to use it without thinking about it first, so Ryan quickly pushed the pieces to the side. He turned on his computer and quickly opened a browser, making his way to one of the sites saved to his quick-access, ''AWKND'', an all-round wiki about awakeners, skills, classes, and anything related.


    The first thing he did was search for the name of his class, ''Spirit Keeper''. No direct results, but there were a few entries about other spirit-related classes.


    ''Spirit Summoner'', ''Spirit Whisperer''... even a class called ''Spirit Killer''. He remembered this one pretty well. A couple years ago it made headlines because someone went around killing all the nature spirits that he could find, and then ended up awakening as that class. But even then, there was nothing about his class, and none of his skills showed up in the skill-search either. At least he had regular stats, so he knew what they were all about already.


    Even just searching the keywords separately and looking into the keywords ''Spirits'' and ''Keeper'', he couldn''t find anything that helped him directly. So, he moved on to a separate site and looked up some things about Spirits themselves.


    <blockquote>


    A spirit is a being called into existence through a concentration of magic that has attained a sense of self. Due to their nature, spirits are aligned with certain specific concepts and essences related to the area and magic they were born from, such as Rivers, particularly old Trees, and even sites of worship have been known to produce spirits over time. They...


    </blockquote>


    So, what? Did that mean that this model kit was so old that it suddenly turned into a spirit? Ryan sighed and leaned forward, continuing to read through the whole article. And toward the end, he came to a simple conclusion.


    "I don''t get any of this shit," he groaned to himself. At this point, he had no other choice. If he couldn''t find any information about it online, then he just had to use this ''Spirit Construction'' skill. It didn''t seem like anything harmful, and if it only used ''10 MP'', it should be fine. If he remembered right, even the most basic mage spells used 20 MP, so the effect couldn''t be anything dangerous.


    Slowly, Ryan concentrated on the skill, and his mind was filled with a cloud of information. Of concepts that he hadn''t known about before. He had heard this described before, but it was really just as weird a feeling as every other Awakened claimed. While he didn''t get any particular details, Ryan simply understood how to activate the skill, as if he was gifted some kind of muscle memory. As he tried to make use of it, something welled up in Ryan''s chest for the first time in his life. It felt like that warm feeling spreading through your body after drinking something hot on a freezing cold day. That feeling started in his chest and slowly moved down his arms and into his hands.


    For a moment, he could swear that his fingertips let off a slight glow, but he couldn''t actually see anything. Now that the skill was active, Ryan reached out to the metal model frame, tugging on one of the pieces. It felt... different, but he still wasn''t able to detach it from the frame. As Ryan once more reached out to his clippers to give them another try, his eyes landed on that box filled with his dad''s old stuff.


    That gemstone was in there, so maybe the tools were related as well. He reached out to them, carefully grabbing the old, seemingly blunt clippers. He felt the warmth flow from his fingers into the tool, and on its metal parts, small runes and patterns began to glow. Immediately, Ryan knew that he had been right.


    He brought the clippers to the metal frame, and tried to cut through the thin connection holding one of the pieces in place. And as if he was cutting through a thin thread, the metal was cut through. For a moment, Ryan actually thought he somehow missed, but he very clearly saw the narrow gap where there wasn''t one before. After doing the same two more times, the first piece fell onto Ryan''s cutting mat, and as he looked at the smooth edges of the piece, a heat grew in his chest.


    It wasn''t that same magical warmth that he felt when activating his skill just now. It was the heat of excitement that made Ryan''s heart beat loud enough that he was sure Runar could hear it from downstairs. Without a moment''s hesitation, Ryan grabbed the piece-organizer that was still holding a few plastic pieces of that orc-armour model that hadn''t been flung through the room earlier, and emptied it out onto the edge of his desk.


    Immediately, Ryan started removing all the small metal parts from the frames.

 03 - Spirit Construction

    The old wooden door shot open too fast to even begin to creak. The first to step into the room was a young elven woman, followed by a hulking figure of an orc that ducked slightly as he entered through the doorway.


    As the two entered, they saw Ryan sitting at his desk, carefully working on something. Taken aback, Silvia stepped closer to him, "Seriously? You''ve got the nerves to work on a model right now?"


    Ryan turned around, looking at his friends with a broad, awkward grin on his face. The kind that Ryan wasn''t able to stop himself from showing in weird or uncomfortable situations, "Yeah, so, this whole thing is part of it, actually..."


    "Part of what?" Silvia raised a brow, looking onto the desk. Spread out there were just some regular pieces of one of the models that Ryan would build all the time. It didn''t look any different from the ones that were set up on the shelves, or the ones that Silvia had painted together with Ryan at some point. However, what did stick out to her was something else entirely. The tools that Ryan was holding, the small clippers and the metal file he was using to clean up the edges of the individual pieces, were letting off a faint glow.


    "Holy shit, is that magic?" Silvia asked excitedly, and Ryan looked up with a smug nod.


    "I think so, yeah. It lets me actually cut out the parts of the model."


    "...What?"


    In the background, Modak had squatted down after stepping onto a small piece that had been thrown through the room. There were a lot that were scattered around, but the one he was now holding in his hand was different. It was the face of the one the model was depicting, the green plastic being just a couple shades darker than Modak''s own skin.


    "I''m gonna try not to get offended at this being on the ground," he sighed loudly, standing back up before walking over to Ryan''s desk to get a look at everything himself.


    Ryan, seeing that his friends were both watching, quickly picked up the single frame that was still laying on the desk, and it had just a single piece that was attached in a single spot, "I''ll explain in a second, but the activation period for the skill is over soon, so I''m going to show it to you first, since... honestly, I thought I was going crazy earlier, so I wouldn''t blame you if you-"


    "Oh just do what you were gonna do already," Silvia slightly slapped Ryan''s back to prompt him to keep going. With a quiet grumble, Ryan picked up the clippers and put them up against the single last connection, and with a single quick motion, the last piece fell onto the cutting mat underneath. But the moment that the last connection was gone, the frame that Ryan was holding simply fell apart into that same red light that formed the box earlier to begin with, scattering away into nothingness before everyone''s eyes.


    The plastic orc head that Modak was still holding in his hand until now quickly fell to the ground as he stared at Ryan''s desk. And then at Silvia, and then at Ryan himself, and then back at the desk.


    "Your class is related to model-building?" Modak asked, as Ryan turned around on his chair. He could feel the magic that had been gathered at his fingertips slowly disappear as the skill was deactivated and the one-hour cooldown started. And at the same time, another translucent window appeared in front of his eyes.


    <hr>


    [The -Spirit Construction- Skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    With a curious expression, Ryan focused on the name of his skill, and its information window quickly appeared.


    <hr>


    [Spirit Construction]


    [Level - 2] [Proficiency ¨C 3%]


    [Allows the user to construct the Spirits¡¯ physical bodies]


    [Effect ¨C Spirit Construction for 21 Minutes]


    [Cost ¨C 10.5 MP] [Cooldown ¨C 1 Hour]


    <hr>


    Ryan took mental note of the changes to the skill. It was going to be active for one more minute, but at the same time, the skill now cost half a point more Mana . At some point, the cooldown would probably start increasing as well, but for now those were the only changes. The skill would be on cooldown for another 40 minutes; cooldowns started once the skill was first used, not when it ended. And Ryan could subconsciously feel exactly how much time was left until he could use it again, down to the exact second.


    Whichever was the case, Ryan now had the time that he needed to properly explain what had happened to his friends. He started right where he needed to; opening the box that his mom had sent him, saying it was his dad''s old stuff. That he then found that glowing red gemstone at the bottom, which his mom had apparently overlooked. And of course, that Ryan awakened the moment he held that gem in his hand.


    Once Ryan was done telling them his story, the three all stayed quiet for a while. Ryan was nervous and felt the awkward silence press down on his body, making his heart beat faster and faster. And that was exactly when Modak broke through that silence.


    With an almost childlike curiosity that stood in stark contrast to his usual demeanour, not even mentioning his sheer size, Modak leaned forward, "How does it feel?" he asked, his deep black eyes practically radiating toward Ryan.


    "I..." he replied slowly, looking down at his hands, "I don''t really feel any different, I guess? It''s weird, I thought I would be overcome with this strength, this immense power, but I just... I don''t know, I feel like I always do."


    "Tired, bored, and with an underlying sense of anxiety?"


    Ryan looked over at Silvia and narrowed his gaze, "I told you that in confidence."


    "No, guys, I... I mean..." Modak stuttered, "How does it feel to use... magic?"


    A bit surprised, Ryan raised a brow, "Well, it''s not like I cast a spell or anything, and the skill only cost me 10MP, so it really was nothing special or anything. It was just like warm water running down my arms, washing away the gunk and stuff that''s been covering my fingers until now. If that makes any sense."


    Modak seemed only somewhat satisfied with that answer. Ryan could tell that he had a lot more things he wanted to ask, but it wasn''t like Ryan knew anything in particular about magic. Not more than anyone else, at least, and he awakened not even an hour ago, so he didn''t have the time to collect his thoughts yet either. Rather, maybe Silvia would be able to explain things a bit better. Elves generally tended to have a slightly better connection to magic than orcs and humans. Though, then again, Silvia never showed any particular interest in it either.


    "But seriously... you of all people got a Magical Class? I''d have thought you''d be, I don''t know, a Brawler or something?" Silvia pointed out with a somewhat puzzled expression, and Ryan could do nothing but shrug in response.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "It''s not like I expected this either. I know they''re not really accurate or anything, but literally every single quiz I''d take online said I''d get a physical class if I awakened," Ryan sighed, "Though, it''s not like I awakened under normal circumstances either. I''m pretty sure most people don''t awaken by touching a glowing gem."


    "Right," Silvia started, leaning back as she raised a brow, "Does that mean your father was also a ''Spirit Keeper''? If that was in his stuff, then he must''ve been, right?"


    Ryan looked back at Silvia with a scoff, "Dude, my dad was an accountant. My mom said he was a massive history buff, though, and got really into model building too. He probably just bought that stuff somewhere and didn''t have a chance to take a closer look at it."


    Both Silvia and Modak looked at Ryan with deep stares, until their friend quickly buckled, "Fucking- fine, I''ll talk to Runar about him later. Happy?"


    "Yup," Silvia replied immediately, glancing down at the gemstone that Ryan was once more clutching in his hand, "So... that''s a Spirit Core, then?"


    "A spirit core?" Ryan repeated. It wasn''t the first time he heard about it, but since he never looked into it all that much, he thought it was more of a metaphorical thing. Not that it was an actual physical object.


    "Right, of course! A spirit core is basically a spirit''s heart, the thing that their magic and essence is focused into. It pushed their magic around like blood, basically," Modak quickly explained, "If you had the predisposition to become a ''Spirit Keeper'', actually making contact with a spirit could make that happen, right?"


    Ryan looked down at the gemstone, and carefully placed it onto his desk, "Uhm... sorry about that, Maximus, I didn''t know that I was holding your heart."


    "Maximus?" Silvia laughed quietly, "What kinda name is that supposed to be?"


    "I didn''t come up with it!" Ryan retorted defensively, "That''s the name it said on the quest. If I''m building a body for a spirit, and this gem is that spirit, then this gem is Maximus... right?"


    "Speaking of," Silvia stood up from the ground and walked over to Ryan''s desk, looking over at the sorting-box set onto its centre, "That''s a lot more pieces than normal, right? And you don''t have a guide or anything?"


    "About two, or three times as many, I guess? But they''re also a lot smaller, so it''s probably gonna be the regular 1/10th scale?" Ryan suggested, "And I guess it would''ve been too easy if there had been a guide... but at least my ''Spirit Construction'' skill makes it a bit easier, still."


    Ryan picked up a small metal piece. Or rather, a section that had already been built. Something like a deep crack was on its surface, separating two pieces, "I was wondering how to put it together, cause they didn''t have things I could just click together like with regular models, but if I push two pieces against each other with that skill active, they just fuse into each other."


    He held the piece up to the others, "I think the crack here means that it''s wrong, telling me I need to put something else there. Because the other section here is actually also two pieces, and not one, but they just fit together perfectly. So I think that part happened to be right."


    Silvia and Modak came to take a closer look. Just as Ryan said, there wasn''t a slightest hint of another piece having been fitted onto it, like they had always been just a single piece. But of course, that wasn''t the case with that other, extra part. It very obviously didn''t fit there, and that wasn''t just because of the crack that made it seem like you could separate the parts just by holding them wrong, it was very obviously not the right piece.


    "So it''s a puzzle, then?"


    "I guess so," Ryan replied, turning back toward the box with those dozens and dozens of pieces with an annoyed expression, "Except this is going to take forever at this rate... I can only work 20 minutes at a time, and then have to wait another 40 minutes until I can keep going."


    "Then maybe we can try and arrange them first." Modak suggested, "That way you can put it together faster when the skill cools down."


    "Huh. I guess so. Ah, hold on," Ryan quickly got up and left his room. But he returned just a few moments later with two more chairs in tow that he had grabbed from the dining table, quickly placing them down in front of his desk next to his own.


    "If you guys are up for it, let''s just get started."


    Silvia and Modak didn''t hesitate for a moment, as they sat down on the chairs. Of course, Silvia took the comfortable, well-cushioned office chair that Ryan was sitting in earlier.


    "Only because you''re doing me a favour here," Ryan clicked his tongue with a playful glare, sitting down on one of the hard wooden chairs, while Modak looked at the two of them with an awkward sigh.


    "And what do I get, then?"


    Ryan looked up at his friend and thought for a moment, "Hm... my undying love and appreciation?"


    Modak contemplated it for a few seconds, and then nodded while sitting down, "I can live with that."


    And without further ado, the three got started. They sorted through the different pieces, that Ryan had already divided up as best as he could. Of course, it wasn''t all too easy to get every part of it figured out, though some areas were easier than others. The hands and feet, and of course the helmet; these were parts of the model that were more obvious. Parts of the metal had been dyed red, seemingly being some sort of detail on the larger armour. Since there were less of them and they had complex, thin shapes, they simply put them aside for now and would have Ryan test them out later. If they at least had the art on the box to reference, this wouldn''t be as big an issue, but the moment that Ryan had started taking the first pieces out of the frames, it fell apart into that magical red light as well.


    The parts that were rather simple were actually the leather and cloth parts. Silvia quickly recognized different sections to be the same shape as what regular clothes were sewn from, so she could reference what she knew about that already and had them sorted out quickly.


    Out of everything, though, the pieces that surprised and confused Ryan, Modak and Silvia the most were the thin, curved pieces of wood. These in particular were as thin as twigs, seeming to be roots that were supposed to grow all over the final armour, above and under the different plates, as though holding it all together.


    Of course, the moment that Ryan''s skill cooled down, he would immediately activate it again. At least his Mana recovery was only a little lower than 10MP every hour, so he was able to activate it multiple times in a row without waiting for his Mana to recover above 10 points. Of course, the skill levelled up one more time too, so things became a little more annoying, but since the amount of time he could work in a row increased a little as well, he couldn''t complain. And then, once the skill was active again, Ryan would simply push the pieces against each other, and they would fuse together as if they were always a single part in the first place. If something was wrong, he simply had to tug at it and could pull it off, like removing a chunk of soft clay.


    But even with the three of them working together, though mostly because of the limited amount of time that Ryan''s skill was active at a time, it took until 11pm for the final model to finally be completed. The last thing that Ryan now had to do was take the red gemstone and place it into the chest-cavity of the model armour. Those thin roots that were growing all over the armour, stretching onto its limbs and climbing in between the metal plates, formed a solid bed for the gem to fit into perfectly.


    Modak and Silvia silently watched on as Ryan pushed the gem inside, the small roots almost wrapping themselves around it, trying to pull it into their embrace the moment it came close. As the gem''s soft, dim red light began to shine out from its centre, the roots practically absorbed it, making the magical essence pulse through to the roots'' tips. Somewhat nervously, Ryan hurried to place the front of the chest-plate, which he had removed to allow him to put the gem inside, back onto the rest of the armour. And then, he just sat there, his hands pulled away from the small model armour to make sure he didn''t accidentally break anything. The room was silent, and the light flowing out to the ends of the roots dyed Ryan''s whole desk in a deep red.


    "How long is it supposed to-" Silvia asked, glancing over at Ryan. In the middle of her sentence, the armour twitched. Like a wave of spasms and cramps flowing through the spirit''s new body. The leather gloves making up its fingers bent in a way that made Ryan fear he put it together wrong, as the metal let out creaks that you would rather expect from a large construct settling into place. And then, all at once... the armour went limp. Not the stiffness that it had when it was first put together, but completely limp, like someone was now within the armour''s formerly hollow interior, sleeping.


    And then, that someone woke up. The small model carefully sat up on the cutting mat, pushing itself up. For a few moments, it seemed unstable on its new legs, but before anyone would have been able to even realize, it moved more confidently.


    The Knight looked around for a few moments, as if getting used to the ability to actually see things again, and before long, its sight landed on Ryan. Without a moment''s hesitation, the Knight dropped onto its knee, lowering its head.


    <hr>


    [You have completed the Quest -Maximus'' Request-]

 04 - Knight Spirit Maximus

    Ryan looked at the small, 20 centimetre figure stood on his desk. The spirit ''Maximus'' had just shown his gratitude to Ryan, or at least that''s what the quest ''reward'' would make him assume. But before he could even try to think about it more, two messages appeared in front of his eyes.


    <hr>


    [You have become the Keeper of the Knight Spirit Maximus]


    [A new domain has become available]


    <hr>


    "So, what now? Can it do tricks?" Silvia wondered curiously, and Ryan laughed, his nervous tension disappearing immediately.


    "He''s not a dog," Ryan protested, looking back at the Spirit, concentrating on Maximus as a whole as if he was pulling up his own status window, "Though, I do wonder, can I maybe see anything about him?"


    Just like Ryan hoped, another window appeared.


    <hr>


    [Maximus]


    [Knight | Level - 1]


    [AP - 18]


    [Stats]


    -[Aura - 0.56]


    -[Strength - 0.79]


    -[Stamina 0.71]


    -[Resistance - 0.86]


    -[Physicality - 0.81]


    [Skills]


    -[Knight''s Attack | Level - 1]


    -[Knight''s Guard | Level - 1]


    -[Knight''s Martial Knowledge | Level - 1]


    <hr>


    "That... hold on..." Ryan muttered confused, "That''s just the actual Knight Class, and a regular... huh?"


    "You okay? What''s going on?" Modak asked with a worried expression, and Ryan quickly nodded.


    "Yeah, yeah, I''m fine... But... do you guys remember learning about awakened Knights in history class or something?"


    "Uhh... vaguely?" Silvia replied, "What about it?"


    "So, Maximus just has a regular status window. I don''t know much about spirits, but I do know that''s not normal. He has a class and all, and that''s the ''Knight'' class... Here, hold on," Ryan said, reaching past Maximus to get to his computer''s mouse. He opened a text editor and quickly typed everything out for Silvia and Modak, since they couldn''t see the system windows.


    "Huh... those stats are kind of low, right?" Modak asked, "Yours are a bit higher than that, right?"


    "Well, yeah, but you''ve got to consider that he''s basically a 9th of my height... for that, he''s pretty strong," Ryan quickly explained, "And we don''t know a ton about Knight skills, but they sound decent enough too."


    Ryan quickly pulled up the information on Maximus'' three skills, copying them over for Silvia and Modak as well. During that whole process, Maximus himself was just staring at that massive window of light in front of him, with nearly childlike curiosity.


    <hr>


    [Knight¡¯s Attack]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency ¨C 0%]


    [An offensive aura envelops your weapon]


    [Effect - +10% Damage for 1 Minute]


    [Cost ¨C 10 AP] [Cooldown ¨C 2 Minutes]


    [Knight¡¯s Guard]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency ¨C 0%]


    [A protective aura envelops your body]


    [Effect ¨C +10% Resistance for 1 Minute]


    [Cost ¨C 10 AP] [Cooldown ¨C 2 Minutes]


    [Knight¡¯s Martial Knowledge]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency ¨C 0%]


    [The deep and extensive knowledge of a Knight, allowing the skilled use of a large variety of weapons]


    [Effect ¨C Increased proficiency with all weapons]


    <hr>


    "Yeah, these are just regular skills. If he weren''t tiny, there''d be nothing hinting at Maximus being a spirit," Ryan pointed out, and Silvia placed her chin onto the desk, taking a closer look at Maximus.


    "So he''s literally a spirit of Knighthood?"


    Ryan slowly nodded his head, "I guess so. I mean, are those a thing?"


    "Well," Modak started, contemplating it for a moment, "I haven''t heard of that before, but Kars and Mila are the Great Spirits of Technology and Agriculture, so a concept like ''Knighthood'' doesn''t seem impossible."


    "I guess it doesn''t matter, really. He seems pretty cool either way," Ryan pointed out, a smile on his face, "I''ll have to figure out a way to see what he can actually do, though. And test out my other skills a bit."


    As if remembering something, Modak raised a brow, "Right, speaking of things you''ve got to do... Are you going to register soon?"


    "I mean, I have to. It''s not like I can just be an unregistered Awakened. I don''t plan on keeping it a secret either, so I don''t want to deal with any fines or anything," Ryan pointed out, looking over at Silvia, "Though, do you think I could maybe talk to your sister about some stuff? Dealing with all that bureaucracy on my own sounds... rough."


    "Huh? Oh, yeah, I''ll ask her. But Yanna''s been pretty busy since she awakened, so don''t count on it too much," Silvia pointed out, her eyes deeply focused on Maximus as if she was looking for something.


    "Is everything alright?" Modak asked, and Silvia slowly nodded. She raised her head and pointed at the screen where Ryan had written the skill information down on.


    "Yeah, just like... the skills say a lot about weapons here, right?"


    "Yeah?" Ryan replied, not sure where she was going with that, "What about it?"


    Silvia looked back down at Maximus, and pointed something out that Ryan himself hadn''t realized until now.


    "He doesn''t have any weapons."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan was left alone in his room with Maximus. Silvia and Modak headed home for the time being, since it was getting a bit too late. Of course, they would meet up again soon; they practically hung out every night anyway. But for now, Ryan had a lot of things to think about on his own.


    Maximus stood on the desk and looked up at Ryan, who was tapping his finger on the table-top, "Okay, so... Why don''t you have any weapons?" he wondered out loud, "You''re a knight, and what''s a knight without a sword?"


    Seeing Ryan''s confusion, Maximus tilted his head to the side.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    With a slight laugh, Ryan shook his head and scooted closer to his desk, and quickly turned toward his monitor, navigating to his browser that was still opened to the Awakened-wiki, and quickly opened a new tab. In the top bar, Ryan quickly typed out a name.


    ''Hayden Aglecard''. His father''s name. The first few results were social-media profiles of people named something similar to ''Aglecard'', or other people named ''Hayden''. Though, there didn''t seem to be a lot of people actually called ''Aglecard''.


    However, after the social-media sites came some news sites, and the headlines surprised him.


    <blockquote>


    - Aglecard Charity Auction raises 50.000.000 Gild


    - 20.000 Homes built throughout Riveria by the Aglecard Charity


    - Aglecard Charity donates ancient Artefacts to the Riverian National History Museum


    - Thousands of Centurean Refugees find employment through the Aglecard Charity


    - The Aglecard Charity...


    - ...


    </blockquote>


    Ryan stared at the screen a little taken aback. Literally every single article mentioning the name ''Aglecard'' talked about some kind of massive charity. If it was like that, then he wouldn''t be able to find out a lot about his father through the internet. Everything would be drowned out by things related to this charity instead, so talking to Runar in the morning would be a lot easier.


    But even so, since he was already at it, Ryan decided to start looking up some things about spirits. While he would have much preferred a physical class, now that he awakened as this ''Spirit Keeper'' class, he had to make this work. Of course, there were ways to get a different class; it was vastly expensive and incredibly exploitative, but there was a company that dealt with the trading of classes. Not that Ryan was interested in that; he had way too many questions about this class to just get another one.


    While Ryan was distracted, looking up a lot of different things on the internet, Maximus had started searching the desk, pushing things around as if trying to look for something. By the time Ryan noticed that something was going on, Maximus already picked up the exacto knife and removed the safety cap.


    "This is so weird," Ryan muttered with an awkward smile, and as he finished speaking, Maximus began to swing the knife around. It was almost too fast for Ryan to see, until Maximus suddenly stopped. And then, he began to stab the knife forward a few times. Overall, it really just seemed like he was trying to get used to it.


    "Damn. If I need you to fight a cardboard monster for me, I''ll let you know, bud," Ryan stood up and walked toward his door. It was pretty late, so he figured he should just get ready for bed right now. Though, then an idea popped up in Ryan''s head, "Hold on... does that actually count as, like, a weapon for you? It just said ''Weapon'', but... I guess that''s kind of a spear for you... so... Do you want to try to use your... uhm, ''Knight''s Attack'' skill?"


    As though waiting for that suggestion, Maximus slammed the flat bottom of the improvised exacto-spear onto the desk. And that exact moment, a wave of red light flowed through the roots covering Maximus'' armour, flowing right into the knife. The edge of the blade was soon covered in a glowing red edge as Maximus'' aura strengthened it.


    "No fucking way..." a smile formed on Ryan''s face, as he rushed over to his shelf, where an empty energy-drink can was waiting to be recycled. Immediately, Ryan placed it down onto the desk, which was just a little shorter than Maximus himself, and clearly the small Knight understood why the can was there.


    Maximus swung the exacto-spear to the side, moving it in sharp angles. At the last motion, Maximus stabbed it forward and pierced the side of the can, pulling the upper half off, leaving it stuck to the blade. But the part where the can was connected up until a few moments ago now had sharp triangles sticking out, each the exact same size as every other one. It took Maximus just a second to do this.


    "...Huh." a broad grin formed on Ryan''s face. If Maximus could use something like an exacto knife as a proper weapon, then maybe he could also use other things. Either way... there were a lot of things to try out. But at this point, Ryan was seriously just exhausted. The adrenaline from awakening was all used up, and he was ready to crash into bed. But before then, there was one more thing Ryan had to try out.


    Ever since one of the system messages he got earlier, he could feel something in the back of his mind. Something like a mental image that was trying to push itself to the front. Ryan was pretty sure that it was related to one of his skills; the ''Spirit Domain''.


    <hr>


    [Spirit Domain]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency ¨C 0%]


    [Allows the Spirits to enter a space of their own, where they can live, train, and keep their belongings]


    [Effect ¨C Grants access to the Spirits¡¯ domain]


    <hr>


    It was a skill without any sort of cost or cooldown connected to it; a passive skill. So it was technically constantly active.


    Ryan looked at Maximus curiously, "Can you get into your domain?" he asked, and without hesitation, Maximus nodded his head. He placed the safety cap back onto the exacto knife and placed it down onto the cutting mat. The knight bowed down slightly in front of Ryan, as his body fell apart into those red wisps of light that were starting to become so familiar. However, instead of disappearing into thin air, they flowed toward Ryan as if carried by some non-existing wind, clinging to his skin.


    After the wisps of light disappeared in Ryan''s body, that mental image in the back of his mind became more clear. Ryan was able to see a space. A cube. Ten, by ten, by ten metres. At the base of that cube was a meter worth of dirt and gravel. In the corner was a small wooden hut, though most of it seemed to be cut off by the cube''s planes. The only thing inside was a single bed, and there really wasn''t enough space for anything else. If the door opened toward the inside, it wouldn''t be able to open fully either.


    But most of the space in the cube was taken up by that patch of dirt and gravel on the outside, with a single straw training dummy propped up on an old wooden stick. As Ryan could feel the warmth of the red light flow through his body, that light began to gather in the centre of the cube, coming together to form Maximus.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    The late-night subway cart was mostly empty, just a few drunken, mid-week party-goers sitting around and feeling the train''s deep buzz travel through their bodies. At one end of that cart sat a young orc with thick headphones pulled over his ears.


    Modak glanced down at his phone, checking the time as he slowly sat up with a tired groan. He caught himself at one of the vertical metal bars as the train came to a halt. As the train pulled away from him again, Modak slowed down for a moment and turned around. Instead of leaving through the exit right by his place, he would take the one on the other end, taking the opportunity to check something. And the moment that his head peeked out over the stairs leading up to the street, Modak let out a deep sigh, seeing light shining out from the windows of a nearby building with a large sign at the front. ''Brog''s Garage''.


    "Not again..." he muttered to himself as he approached the door next to the main garage. The smell of dust and oil immediately attacked Modak''s nose, and even through his headphones, the loud, 20-year old rock music drowned out every other sound. Without a moment''s hesitation, Modak grabbed the phone laying in between the speakers and paused the music. And immediately, a large head with halfway-greyed hair peeked out from behind the car stood in the centre of the garage, "What the-" the man, Brog, said with an annoyed expression, before seeing who it was.


    "Modak! What''re you doin'' here?"


    "No, dad, what are you doing here? It''s like 1am, you promised not to do this anymore."


    "Oh come on, now," Modak''s father shook his head with a loud groan, wiping the black oil from his hands as he moved around the car to take a look at the clock, "Huh, I guess you''re right..."


    "What is it this time? Why are you still working?" Modak asked, not in the mood to play around right now. His father turned back toward the car; an older model, but in pretty decent condition overall.


    "Well, the owner''s comin'' tomorrow, I''ve gotta get this done. Not like I can just give ''im back a broken car!"


    "That car''s been here for a week, dad. Wasn''t Paul supposed to work on that one?"


    "Paul... he''s been a bit busy recently, so he..."


    "Just fire him already, he''s been slacking off for months, dad," Modak sighed, but Brog shook his head immediately.


    "No, no, I can''t do that to ''im. He''s about to have a kid," Brog looked at his son with a somewhat awkward expression. Modak wasn''t particularly happy with that excuse, but he didn''t want to tell his father what to do either. It was his business, so it was his responsibility.


    With a click of his tongue, Modak put his bag on the ground and took off his jacket, carefully hanging it off the rusty hook near the door. Confused, Brog looked at him, "What are you doing?"


    Modak walked over to the edge of the car lift, hitting the button to make the hydraulics lift it up a bit more so he could take a closer look at it from underneath.


    "Not like we can give back a broken car, right?"


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Laying in bed, Ryan looked up at his ceiling. Today was an interesting day, to say the least. He wanted to deny it, but there has to be something up with his father; why else would he have a spirit in a random toolbox. There were some rare cases where classes could be inherited, but those were all things established hundreds of years ago at the dawn of the system.


    "He was... an accountant," Ryan muttered quietly, holding his hands to his face with a loud groan. He was still far too awake to actually sleep right now. Even Maximus, in his domain, was still awake, just seated on the edge of his bed.


    Ryan grabbed the phone laying on the corner of his bed. It probably wouldn''t help him fall asleep, but he might as well scroll through his Loop feed for a bit. The app opened up with an excited young woman pointing at the green-screened image behind her, "Ten must-go places in New Riverside during Spirit Week this year!"


    "Oh, right..." Ryan raised a brow. It was going to be his first Spirit Week here in the city soon. It was already a big deal in his small hometown, but he heard that everything was at a whole other level here in New Riverside. For now, Ryan saved the video and kept scrolling.


    "New suspected Dungeon formation in-" Ryan instinctively scrolled past the video. New dungeons popped up every week or so.


    "An animal disappeared from New Riverside Zoo!" as Ryan kept scrolling, he noticed something off, though. Not right in front of him, but in the back of his mind, Maximus was suddenly stood up within his domain, practically staring Ryan down.


    "Uhm... are you alright, dude?" he asked concerned, and Maximus quickly shook his head, and then started pointing up. Not sure if he understood correctly, Ryan slowly scrolled back up to the video he just interrupted.


    "New suspected Dungeon formation in an abandoned factory in Copperbeach! After this copper foundry first went out of use more than a decade ago, it has been locked off from public entry. But when some urban explorers found themselves exploring the premises, they noticed the tell-tale signs of a new dungeon and quickly reported it to the authorities. It has been classified as a Low danger level and-" Ryan watched through the video, a bit bored. These never showed what the actual dungeon was or revealed any useful info, so he preferred watching longer deep-dive videos on Klicks instead.


    However, Maximus seemed to be more than just curious. As Ryan looked inward into the domain, he noticed the Knight standing in the centre of the space. Ryan could tell that Maximus wasn''t looking at him right now, but past him, as if watching the world through his eyes. And Ryan didn''t know why he could tell, it was just like a gut feeling, considering that Maximus stood there as he always did. He didn''t even have a face that could be expressive. But Ryan could tell that Maximus was... angry. As if that realisation triggered something, a message popped up in front of him.


    <hr>


    [You have received a new Quest!]

 05 - Awakened Registration

    Modak woke up to the incessant ringing of his phone. The sunlight was shining through the cracks between his blinds, and an involuntary groan escaped his mouth. Modak grabbed his phone and turned off the alarm, before swinging his feet over the edge of his bed. His body felt heavy, but he still had to get up.


    He moved his hair out of his eyes and sluggishly walked past his desk, still covered in tiny screws, pieces of plastic, wires and circuit boards. They''ve been lying there for a week now, gathering dust. But Modak hasn''t really had the time and nerve to keep working on that. For now, he made his way to the small bathroom across the hallway to brush his teeth. As Modak did that boring, rhythmic motion, his green-brown fingers stuck out to him. He probably stood here for fifteen minutes last night trying to scrub off as much of the motor-oil as he could, but it just stained his skin like hell, so he couldn''t get any more than this off. At least it should be enough not to taste it if he accidentally touches his lip, so it could be worse. By the time Modak moved on to brushing his tusks, he noticed how quiet it was in the flat. The only thing that he could hear was the sizzling of oil coming from the kitchen.


    Modak rinsed off his tusks, trying to ignore the deep, dark circles under his eyes, and then took a turn to the left as he stepped out of the bathroom. He pushed open the next door, seeing two young boys still dead-asleep in their beds. Rolling his eyes, he scooped up one of the backpacks off the ground with his foot and kicked it over onto the closest bed. With a startled yelp, the young boy shot up.


    "Huh, what?!"


    "Get up already," Modak said, watching his other brother slowly rise from his bed as well.


    "Oh come on... just five more minutes..."


    "Zigg, don''t make me pull you out of bed again," tapping his foot on the ground, Modak looked straight into the tired boy''s eyes.


    Groaning loudly, the boy pulled back and responded, "I''m not Zigg, I''m Mogh..."


    "No, you''re not, now get up already."


    "How would you know?"


    Modak left the room and shook his head annoyed, yelling toward the boys as he walked down the hallway, "For the last time, you''re fraternal!"


    As Modak entered the combined kitchen and living room, he saw his mother put down a plate of eggs and sausages on the table.


    "Morning, honey," she said, smiling lightly, "Thanks for taking the boys to school today."


    "Of course," Modak yawned, "Their school''s on my way to the store anyway."


    As he sat down at the table, he quickly started to eat. Before long, his siblings started streaming into the kitchen, sitting down at the table as well. Even Zigg and Mogh managed to roll out of bed. Once Modak was done with his food, he glanced over to one of his brothers, seeing massive cracks on the screen of his phone, "Oh come on, Pock, what happened?"


    "What? Nothing," Pock replied defensively, pushing his phone under the table to hide it.


    "He fell off a skateboard while trying to impress his ~girlfriend~," Gilik, another one of Modak''s brothers said with a broad, teasing grin on his face.


    As his face quickly turning a dark green, Pock stuttered out, "She- She''s not my girlfriend!"


    Gilik grinned at his older brother and was about to make another retort, but his mother quickly gave him a light, playful tap to the back of the head, "Stop messing with your brother."


    Modak raised a brow and held out his hand toward his brother. With a grumble, Pock revealed his phone again and placed it into Modak''s hand, as he quickly took a look. There were some pixel errors and the touch screen didn''t work that well anymore either.


    "Hm... alright, I''ll swap the screen out later. But seriously, I''ve told you a thousand times, just put a damn screen protector on it already," Modak said, giving the phone back to Pock, who just silently stared down at the table, his face still dyed by that dark blush. Modak glanced down at his brother''s leg, "Did you hurt yourself when you fell?"


    After a few moments, Pock shook his head. With a smile, Modak got up and grabbed his plate, roughing up Pock''s hair while walking over to the sink, putting the plate inside. He looked over at his mother, "Do you need me to drop off something from the store later?"


    After a few moments of thinking, she nodded her head, "If you could grab some pickled mandrake, and maybe some more flour, that would be great."


    "Of course," Modak smiled, slowly walking back to his room while taking a note on his phone to buy eggs and look into a replacement phone screen. Right before he could walk through his door, his sister Kora walked down the hallway, scratching her belly while still half-asleep. Modak raised a brow, "Up already?"


    Glaring daggers at Modak, Kora replied, "How can I not with how much you''re yelling. Pretty energetic for someone who came home like three hours ago."


    "... I was helping out dad," Modak replied, but Kora raised a brow confused.


    "Wait, I thought you went over to Ryan''s place."


    "Yeah, but when I came home, I saw that dad was still at the garage, so... what was I supposed to do?"


    "He''s a grown ass man, Modak," Kora sighed, "It''s not your job to pick up after dad."


    "It''s fine, it wasn''t that big a deal. We managed to finish pretty quickly anyway," Modak replied, stepping into his room.


    Kora looked at her younger brother with a concerned smile, "Just... take it easy, alright? You''re looking really tired these days."


    "I''m fine, but... thanks for worrying," Modak replied, and slowly closed his door. With a longing glance at his bed, he walked over to his closet, grabbing basically the first thing he saw to change into. As he was changing, though, his phone started buzzing.


    Picking it up, his trousers in his other hand, Modak saw a text that he didn''t expect.


    <hr>


    <blockquote>


    Ryan


    Yo, who wants to go shopping with me? Going to a dungeon soon


    Silvia


    Wtf you awakened like yesterday


    Ryan


    Yeah and I''m itching to go already


    You


    Don''t you have to register to go to dungeons?


    Ryan


    ya


    already getting ready to go to the awakened centre rn


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Yanna sent me some stuff to prep me beforehand


    Silvia


    but why do you want to go to dungeons anyway? They''re so icky


    Ryan


    I was watching a video about a dungeon that formed in town recently, and Maximus gave me a quest to go take a look


    so I figured I might as well


    it''s a low danger dungeon so yk


    Silvia


    ooh damn, another quest?


    sounds fun then


    count me in! When are we meeting?


    You


    I''ll join too, but I''ve got an early shift so it would have to be after.


    Why are you guys even awake already? It''s 6:30.


    Silvia


    never went to bed in the first place <3


    Ryan


    same lol


    @Modak when are you off work today? Let''s just meet at the store at the end of your shift, there''s some stuff I want to get from there anyway


    You


    I''ll be done at 4pm


    </blockquote>


    <hr>


    Modak tossed his phone onto his bed and finished getting dressed. At least buying stuff shouldn''t take Ryan too long later, so Modak should be able to come home and just go into a coma without any trouble.


    Once he was fully dressed, Modak waited for Zigg and Mogh to finish getting ready and walked with them to the nearby subway station. As usual, they were messing around, so Modak had to walk behind them to keep them in line. He pushed them forward a bit as he wrangled them into the train cart, making sure he always had them in his sight amidst the crowd that flowed into the train. It would take a while for them to get to their station, so Modak pulled the small book out of his bag and started to read.


    "Ew," Zigg stared up at his brother, past the book''s edge, "Why''d you read on the subway?"


    "Because it''s the only place where you two can''t run off while I''m not looking," Modak replied, his eyes flowing over the pages.


    "We''re not dogs, ya know?" Mogh scoffed, but Modak just rolled his eyes with a slight sigh.


    "Yup. 9 year old dogs tend to actually listen."


    "Whatever," Zigg replied, already moving on, "Can you help us with our homework again tonight?"


    "...You don''t even know what homework you''re getting today. Try to do it on your own first, and if you don''t understand something, I''ll help you out. Deal?"


    "Fiiine..." Zigg groaned. The rest of the train ride was a lot more quiet, at least in regard to the twins. Once they reached their station, Modak pushed the boys out of the train and the three walked up to the street level. They followed the crowd of other kids walking to school, and before long, they split up. After Modak made sure that the twins were actually inside of the building, he started to walk to his part-time job.


    Since university was on break, he was trying to work as much as he could to make some extra money, which meant getting up early every day. It was just a nice feeling to have some spending money when he went out with Ryan and Silvia, and being able to support his parents a bit more was nice too, of course.


    The walk to the store Modak worked at took another fifteen minutes. It was originally a specialty store with foods from different cultures outside of Rivera, and they carried a lot of very specific foods for species with more specific food requirements as well. They even sold some specially-produced stones for some Avian species to keep in their gizzards. Generally, his work was fine, though dealing with customers was sometimes a bit awkward and uncomfortable. But since Modak was a bit more on the taller, stronger side of the spectrum, he worked in the warehouse and item sorting section most of the time. His manager was fairly relaxed as well, so as long as it didn''t negatively influence his work, he was allowed to listen to music, or what he did most of the time, listen to some audiobooks. It was actually a decent opportunity to catch up on some stuff he had pushed back.


    But work itself was really quite monotonous, and eight hours would pass by agonizingly slowly. Though, Modak was sure it was a lot better than what Ryan was dealing with right now.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    A long yawn escaped Ryan''s mouth as he stepped into the Awakened Centre. It was a large, clean space that allowed any Awakened to get the support they needed. Depending on the direction that the Awakened wanted to go, they also offered classes for specific licenses, an emergency room that was capable of dealing with an Awakened''s strengthened body, as well as training rooms that could be rented. Though, the training rooms didn''t seem to be used that often.


    Also, compared to other bureaucratic and government buildings, it was so much less busy. Compared to the ten million people living in New Riverside, there were only about 40 thousand Awakened spread all throughout, so that made sense. There was a reason why Ryan''s tiny hometown didn''t even have one of these; awakening was so rare that it wouldn''t make sense.


    There were a couple more people in here, but considering its size, it might as well have been empty. Ryan walked up to one of the counters. The clerk was a Strigan woman with pure white feathers, looking at him with a gleeful chirp.


    "Good morning, my name is Aurora Carlyle, how can I help you today?" she asked in a happy voice that seemed to practically invite Ryan in. He quickly replied, though he was nervous about what was going to happen today. Yanna told him that he would probably end up having to fill up a ton of documents and even go through some tests, since he had a unique class, so he really wasn''t all too excited about that. But if he wanted to go to a dungeon, he had to deal with it. Not having to pay a 100 Gild fine for not registering in time was also a pretty good incentive, of course.


    "Good morning! I''m here to register, I awakened yesterday."


    Aurora clapped the small talons at the ends of her wings together with a quiet hoot, "Congratulations! In that case, please follow me to a private room where we can complete the registration," Aurora quickly stepped up from behind the counter and led Ryan to one of the elevators, which they took to the fourth floor together. Once there, Ryan was brought to a small office. The desk had a small name-sign reading ''Aurora Carlyle'' on it.


    "Alright, in that case, let us get started. First, we need some generic information; name, age, place of residence, contact methods, and so on," as she explained, Aurora pushed a keyboard over to Ryan and turned the monitor toward him, so that he could quickly fill the standard information out.


    Simultaneously, she seemed to be typing in some things on a separate computer, and as Ryan was done, took a look at the basic information.


    "Perfect. So, Mister Aglecard, what is your class?"


    Ryan let out a nervous sigh, "So, yeah... it''s called ''Spirit Keeper''? I couldn''t find any info about it online, so I think it might be a unique class?"


    Aurora tilted her head to the side for a moment, and then quickly snapped her sight back to her screen, as though she wanted to hurriedly check something, "I assume that is s-p-i-r-i-t-space-k-e-e-p-e-r?"


    "Yes, exactly."


    After checking things for a few more moments, Aurora turned back toward Ryan, "We will be verifying this information later anyway, but this is completely accurate?"


    "Uhm, yeah, of course... Is there a problem?" Ryan asked nervously. If this class really did turn out to be a dangerous class that only psychopaths could get... maybe he would be locked up right away? Of course, that was ridiculous, but considering Aurora''s shocked expression, that might as well have been the case.


    "No problem at all! Once again, congratulations on attaining a unique class! At least as far as our database is concerned," Aurora didn''t look away from the screen at all, hurriedly typing and clearly opening tons of documents, "However, this being the case, the process will be a little different today."


    "How different, exactly? My friend has a decently rare class, and she told me that she had to take a bunch of tests... will that be the case?" Ryan wondered, and Aurora slowly looked over.


    "Yes, and no. The tests that we will be taking are different depending on the actual specs of the class and the specific circumstances. Now, especially for unique classes, while we would like to learn as much as we can, anything beyond the basic information is a voluntary process. That means we will record the exact stats you automatically gained access to as well as your skill information. The only part that is slightly different is that, because we are lacking that data, we would like to ask that you periodically give us information on your current stats, levels, skills, et cetera," Aurora explained, and Ryan raised his brow a bit surprised.


    "I don''t need to show you my skills?"


    "If you would like to, of course. However, as you have a class that has not yet been recorded otherwise, we have to act under the assumption that your class is tied very closely to your individuality. As such, even more so than for other classes, it is considered protected information. So, we will only proceed with any tests beyond the basic information as long as you agree."


    As Ryan took a moment to think about it, Aurora moved some more documents over to the screen in front of Ryan.


    "Please just fill these out and then we will head back out for the tests."


    As Ryan looked over the documents, he quickly glanced back at Aurora, "Oh, and I would like to apply for a Dungeoneering license as well, if I can."


    "Of course! Though, that does require you to pass a simple test so we can make sure you know the rules and regulations surrounding Dungeons, together with a small fee."


    Ryan stopped for a moment, looking at the woman in front of him nervously, "How much would that fee be?"


    "That would be 100 Gild total, including the processing fee as well as the printing fee for the actual physical license."


    "...Sounds about right..."

 06 - The Channel

    Ryan stepped out through the large doors of the Awakened Centre. In his hand, he was holding a small metal card; his Awakened license. On it was his name, date of birth, class, and a small symbol that showed that he passed the test for the additional Dungeoneering license. And though the process wasn''t particularly easy, he actually expected a lot worse.


    He did have to take a few tests where his current stats were evaluated, not just the ones that he actually unlocked but also the more common physical stats like Strength, Physicality, Agility, and so on. However, beside that, it was all actually pretty chill. Ryan wasn''t aware, but there seemed to be some laws that had been put into place specifically to protect the privacy of the most rare classes that existed, such as unique or bloodline classes. That was why he didn''t actually have to tell them anything beyond the most basic information, as Aurora had explained to him.


    And considering that Ryan had no idea what the deal with his class was yet, he was quite happy about it too. That being the case, the process still took until 1pm, especially the Dungeoneering test at the end of it all. Luckily he knew a lot about this sort of thing already, so after taking a look at some of the practice materials that Aurora had given to him, he just tried the test out and passed almost with a perfect score.


    "Let''s just go grab some lunch," Ryan stretched lightly and quickly pulled up a map on his phone. Just looking around, he was intimidated. Since there weren''t that many Awakened in the city, there was only a single Awakened Centre. At least public transport was great to the Channel though, something that Ryan didn''t really expect initially.


    Most of New Riverside was encased by a fork and confluence in the Galerian river and was split up into multiple boroughs. In the encased centre were Upstream, the part of town where Ryan, Modak and Silvia lived, and the oldest part of the city. There was also Copperbeach, a mostly industrial borough, as well as Lakeview, which included the parts of town that were submersed in the Galerian lake that formed in this part of the river. At some point, the city spread beyond the western branch toward the mountains, creating the two boroughs of the Falls and Rapids due to the nature of the river adjacent to them, as well as beyond the eastern branch toward the forests, aptly named Eastbanks.


    And then, in the western branch, there was another island holding the smallest borough, the Channel. Even though it was the smallest, it was by far the richest part of the city, and it was very clearly visible too. Compared to the old, historic buildings that Ryan was used to from Upstream at this point, everything here was so new and simply massive. The skyline of this part of town was visible from literally everywhere in New Riverside, but being here, looking up at the skyscrapers from the street level was just ridiculous.


    "Fucking hell, man... this is crazy," Ryan muttered, starting to walk around to follow the direction his map sent him, and soon enough he was sent into what, at first glance, looked like some kind of mall. There were shops all over the place, but just glancing at them, Ryan knew for a fact that he couldn''t even afford socks from any of them.


    Either way, this place wasn''t even his final destination yet; he wanted to go to this noodle place that he heard about on Loop that looked pretty decent, and for some reason it sent him through here. And then, after turning around the corner, Ryan saw the escalators that seemed to reach upward for miles. He wasn''t totally sure, but he figured he might as well take a look, and quickly stepped on the escalator.


    It wasn''t necessarily fast, but it was a lot better than having to walk up this far. And then, once he reached the top, Ryan stepped out of the building and was once more on street-level. A bit taken aback and confused, he looked around to figure out what was going on. This was clearly a pedestrian zone, but he was walking by one of those earlier as well, and that was before going up what felt like ten miles on that escalator. Curious, Ryan kept walking around and soon noticed some railings at the edge of an open area, and quickly walked up to it. As he looked down, he saw nothing but a massive drop to the roads below.


    "Huh..." Ryan muttered surprised. He didn''t expect things to be like this here in the Channel. It was a whole different world compared to what he was used to. Though, whichever the case, Ryan was hungry. After enjoying the view for another few moments, he turned back around and kept following the map to the restaurant. It was a small hole-in-the-wall place that seemed almost out of place in this neighbourhood, though maybe that was the intention behind it. The old wood, the Shimarian style and d¨¦cor, and the lovely, inviting vibe. Everything else in this part of town was so cold that Ryan felt almost unsettled, so this was a nice change.


    He stepped into the shop and took a seat at the counter before his order was quickly taken as well. Ryan watched curiously as the chef expertly used his four muscular arms to prepare the food just a few steps away from him. The smell of the broth and the braised pork practically made him salivate.


    Especially when the bowl was finally placed in front of him and the steam of the bowl heated up his face, Ryan couldn''t wait to dig in. Though, of course, he took a quick picture first and sent it to his group chat.


    ''You sure you don''t want anything?'' Ryan thought, inwardly looking at Maximus, though he just replied with a single short nod, ''...Do you at least want to come out or something? I feel awkward enjoying myself while you''re stuck in there. You didn''t want to come out during any of the tests either.''


    For a few moments, Maximus seemed to be in contemplation as Ryan started to eat, when he reacted in a way that just seemed off to Ryan. He stopped what he was doing, jumping up onto his feet, staring into empty space. Though, Ryan could tell that he wasn''t looking into ''empty space'', but outside of the domain, as if looking at something beyond Ryan''s body. And Maximus seemed tense.


    "Mister Aglecard, I''m very sorry to disturb you. Could I have a moment of your time?" As Ryan turned his head, he saw an elven man stood right in front of him wearing a dark suit. There was a small, light blue sparrow pin attached on the left side of his chest.


    Ryan swallowed the food in his mouth, looking back at the man with a frown. He was covered in a cloud of disgustingly potent cologne, and Ryan was worried that the man''s greased-back hair was about to catch fire from the kitchen''s open flames.


    "Uhm... Do I know you?"


    "Not yet, but it would be a pleasure to change that," the man said, pulling a white business card from his jacket''s inner pocket, practically forcing it into Ryan''s hand, "Simon Grand, of Bluesky Industries. We heard that you just registered your class with the Awakened Centre. Congratulations on that, first and foremost."


    Ryan stared at the man confused. It hadn''t even been thirty minutes since he left from there, "How did you-"


    "It''s all public record, Mister Aglecard. As you must know, every Awakened and the name of their Class is placed into the database for every Riverian citizen to view."


    "Right, fair enough. Though that doesn''t explain how you fucking know where I went to get lunch," Ryan replied. The vibes he got from this guy weren''t particularly comfortable.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    For a while, Simon Grand just stared at Ryan with a soft business-smile plastered on his lips, before turning over toward the chef, "Coffee, please. Black."


    "Don''t got coffee," the chef replied, unamused, "Ya can have tea if ya want. Green."


    "Then I will take that, thank you very much," Simon replied, and slowly turned back toward Ryan, "Mister Aglecard, are you aware of what we do at Bluesky Industries?"


    "Vaguely, I guess?" That was a lie. Anyone even a fraction as interested in Awakened knew about Bluesky Industries. They dealt with anything related to the System, producing a ton of technology that interfaced with it. A lot of the scanners that Ryan had just used at the Awakened Centre were made by them, as were most workout machines for Awakened. They also made plenty of weapons, tools, and any other items that different Awakened might need. And, over the past few years, after a certain breakthrough, they started dealing in a whole other matter as well.


    "Well, to give you a brief explanation, we have dedicated ourselves to making the lives of all Awakened easier and better. And we are especially concerned when it comes to people like you, who have attained unique classes."


    Ryan just continued eating, listening to Simon yap on. If he just played along, this guy would hopefully leave soon enough. Though, he was pretty worried about Maximus'' intense stare that was seemingly aimed right at Simon.


    The man continued, "People with unique classes face many, many challenges that are often simply not worth the trouble. As you must know, the rarity of a class has no influence over that class'' inherent power, so many unique class holders fall behind their contemporaries. Without the lengthy analyses and growth-strategies that have been created for more common classes, in our day and age, having a wholly unique class comes with truly nothing but downsides."


    Ryan glanced away from his food. He knew it. It was going that way.


    "So?" he asked, and Simon''s smile grew a bit broader than it had been before, as though he was happy with the flow of this one-sided conversation.


    "Wouldn''t it be much nicer to have a class that you can grow properly in with the assistance of your peers? Not one that was decided for you by the world, but one that you decided on," Simon pulled the business card that he placed next to Ryan earlier back over toward himself, taking out a pen. He wrote a number on it.


    300,000 Riverian Gild.


    "This is how much we''re willing to pay for your unique class. And in addition, we''re willing to let you choose any class from our existing catalogue."


    Looking at the number on the business card, Ryan had to swallow in contemplation for just a second. That much money would be enough to buy his mom a house. Maybe not a mansion or anything like that, but it would be enough for her to live peacefully without having to deal with that shitty landlord anymore. Ryan''s heart beat heavily in his chest at the mention of that much money. However...


    "I''m not selling my class, sorry," he replied, though it did hurt him a bit. His class was clearly somehow related to his father, and until he knew more about that, he refused to even let others beside the people he trusted most know too much about it all. Not to mention, his class was the one that gave Maximus a body. If he sold the class, would he be selling Maximus as well? Or would Maximus be forced to once more return to that Spirit Core form for an indefinite amount of time? Frankly, Ryan didn''t know which one would be worse. Either way, no matter how good of a deal that much money would be, he didn''t want to sell.


    "Now, now, don''t be like that, Mister Aglecard. I know that your family is quite wealthy, but 3 Million Gild is not a number to scoff at," Simon pointed out with a slight smile, and Ryan looked back at him confused. His eyes gazed back at the business card, and his heart dropped. It almost felt like he had a heart attack. Ryan had missed a zero.


    For a moment, Ryan buried his face in his hands. That was a truly life-changing amount of money. His mother would never have to work for the rest of her life, and Ryan would be set up just amazingly for the future as well. That number made refusing just harder. Not to mention, "What do you mean, ''your family is quite wealthy''?"


    Taken aback, Simon looked at Ryan with a puzzled expression, "You are a son of the Aglecard family, correct? Of the Aglecard Foundation?"


    ''Is that why he offered that much?'' Ryan wondered. It made sense, though. Within New Riverside, that charity foundation seemed to be a pretty big deal, so after seeing his last name, this guy must have thought that Ryan was part of them. ''Aglecard'' was an otherwise pretty rare last name, after all. Though, since Ryan wasn''t planning on selling either way, no matter how big the number got, he figured he might as well try to play around a bit.


    "Well, who knows? But what makes you think I''d sell for 3 Million?" Ryan asked, smiling lightly. This being the first smile that Simon saw from him, he seemed to become a bit more confident.


    "I see. Considering your status, 3 Million might sound like a bit of a joke to you. Let me tell you what, I''ll talk to my supervisors and see if I can get you a bit of a better deal. Though, remember that this offer only exists before you reach Level 10. After that, Class exchanges become impossible, even for us," Simon stood up from his seat, never even having touched the green tea that the chef had placed in front of him. But even so, he took out a wallet and procured a 100 Gild bill, quickly handing it to the chef, "This is for Mister Aglecard''s food as well."


    The chef took the money without another word, just slowly nodding at Ryan. Simon turned toward the young man and smiled "We will reach out to you with a new offer soon, Mister Aglecard. Until then, please take the time to contemplate what your Class is truly worth to you."


    And without further ado, Simon Grand turned around and left the restaurant, leaving Ryan stunned. He took another look at the business card still laying on the counter, breathing out a heavy sigh.


    "An Aglecard, huh? Didn''t expect ta have such a high-class customer today," the chef pointed out, grabbing the untouched cup of tea to just drink it himself, since Simon didn''t. But Ryan, once he made sure that Simon wouldn''t be in earshot, just let out a laugh.


    "Man, do I really look that posh to you? Fuck no, I just have the same name. But if letting that guy misunderstand that for a little while gets me my lunch paid for, why not play along a bit?" Ryan grinned lightly as he looked back at his food, finally continuing to eat. The chef let out a loud laugh, and the hands that had never stopped moving around ever since Ryan came in here were practically stunned.


    "That''s hilarious. So even those sparrow bastards can be wrong, huh?" he asked rhetorically, before looking at Ryan with a big smirk, "Though, I don''t wanna be you when they find out ya don''t have a unique class."


    "Hm? Oh, no, that part''s true," Ryan replied, "As he said, it''s all public record anyway, so I''d be surprised if they were wrong about that."


    The chef raised his brows curiously, "That so, huh? Well, congrats, anyway. Looks like you''re gonna be coming into some big cash soon."


    "Nah, I''m not selling. The class is too important to me for that," Ryan picked up the bowl in front of him and quickly drank the rest of the broth left in it. As he placed it back down and wiped his mouth, he saw the surprise on the chef''s face.


    "Didn''t expect a kid your age ta have that kinda foresight. I''m impressed," the chef smiled, holding one of his hands forward to Ryan, "Chantora Basir, Chef. The awakened kind."


    Ryan looked back surprised, shaking Chantora''s hand, "Holy shit, no wonder this food was as good as it was. Sure earned yourself that, what, 600% tip?"


    "Sure like to think so."


    "Well, either way, I''m Ryan Aglecard. No affiliation, obviously. And I''m a ''Spirit Keeper''. Also the awakened kind."


    "Spirit Keeper, huh? What''s that let you do?" Chantora asked curiously, and Ryan looked around for a moment. This restaurant wasn''t actually all that busy. It was quite out of the way and in some side road, but considering how big that video on Loop was, he expected a bit more. Though, right now it was quite useful. Looking inward, it seemed that Maximus was quite happy about coming out now. With how he had reacted to Simon''s presence, Ryan didn''t hesitate to trust Maximus'' gut feelings for this.


    Ryan slowly held his hand toward the counter as Maximus stepped out of him. The red wisps quickly formed his body and the small knight looked up at Chantora, whose four eyes curiously stared at him.

 07 - Shopping Spree

    Silvia sat on the couch, sketching something on her tablet, as a towering figure suddenly stood over her from behind. Leaning forward, he placed his fur-covered hands onto her shoulders and glanced at the screen.


    "Well, well, well, who is that supposed to be for? Doesn''t look quite so practical in day-to-day life," the man said with a booming voice, as Silvia slightly turned her head and looked up at the Minotaur stood behind her as she took out her earbuds.


    "Dad? Didn''t even hear you come in, I thought you''re already on your way to that conference," Silvia smiled broadly, as her father Dimos walked around the couch and sat down on the dark brown armchair a few steps away. His round belly pressed up against the white button-up shirt, and his hooves pressed into the carpet.


    "I''m carpooling with Jamal, but he had something important to take care of. I will go to pick him up in..." he explained, looking down at the watch on his wrist, "...about thirty minutes."


    "Ah, okay, okay. So, anyway, you know about Ryan, right?" Silvia asked, and Dimos quickly nodded his head.


    "Of course I do, you, him, and that Modak boy spend a lot of time together, right? You talk about them a lot."


    "Right, they''re both awesome! Anyway, turns out, Ryan awakened, like, yesterday."


    Dimos'' eyes widened slightly, "Oh, is that so? Well, that sounds quite wonderful. Do you know what his plans are from now on?"


    "Well," Silvia thought about it for a moment, "He''s got a magic class, but he''s not really the ''classic'' magic type? That would actually be more like Modak''s deal... but because of his class, I guess he can''t get into Awakened sports like Yanna. He said he wants to give Dungeoneering a try, so maybe that''s where he''ll go?"


    Dimos raised his brow, "Dungeoneering? And his parents are fine with that?"


    "His family situation''s a bit complicated I think, but his mom sounds very supportive. Anyway, that''s like, his deal to figure out, but I thought I''d help in another way."


    "I see, now," leaning slightly forward to the table, Dimos grabbed a small candy and popped it into his mouth, "So you''re designing him something for his dungeon adventures?"


    "That''s the plan! I''m very happy with how it''s looking right now. We''re meeting up to buy some stuff for his first dungeon trip anyway, so I figured we can drop by the fabric store, the one in Driftwood that I really like, and then tonight I can get started!"


    "Okay, well, don''t overwork yourself. You already got home quite late last night, didn''t you?"


    "I guess so," Silvia leaned back on the couch. She was pretty tired still, but nothing she couldn''t deal with. Luckily elves only needed four or five hours of sleep anyway, so she should be able to catch up pretty easily, "But I''ll be fine, don''t worry."


    "If you say so, I know you can handle yourself," Dimos said with a smile on his face, as the door leading downstairs to the basement and garage opened up. Through it stepped a tall minotaurean woman, carrying three large bags.


    "Oh?" Athina let out, looking at Dimos, "Honey, you''re still here? I thought you should already be on your way."


    "I will head out soon to pick up Jamal and then we will be on our way," Dimos explained, pushing himself off his armchair. He walked over to his wife and gave her a quick kiss.


    "Is his husband acting up again?"


    "I didn''t want to pry, but it''s possible. We have been going to a lot of conferences recently, so I couldn''t blame him," Dimos pointed out, helping Athina unpack the groceries.


    "That may be true, but you don''t see me get that upset every time. You and Jamal are psychiatrists. Doctors. It''s part of the deal," Athina let out a long sigh, looking at some of the groceries now on the counter, "Oh, but do you want me to make you something for the trip? Since you have the time now."


    "I do feel a little peckish. It would be lovely if you would, my dear."


    "Oh, you little suck-up," with a scoff, Athina gave Dimos a small love tap with the back of her hand as she turned toward the living room again, "Sweet pea, do you want to eat something as well?"


    Silvia thought about it for a moment but just shook her head in response, glancing at the empty bowl on the table in front of her, "No thanks, I just had some cereal earlier."


    "In the middle of the day again? I thought I told you to eat a bit better," Athina sighed, looking at her daughter with a raised brow, "That reminds me, didn''t you also promise to go running with me last night?"


    "Well, sure, but there was a bit of an emergency."


    "What kind of emergency? Is everything alright?" Athina asked with a concerned expression, looking over at Dimos.


    He shook his head and explained, "Her friend Ryan awakened yesterday."


    "Oh? Well congratulations to him, then. He''s a pretty... rowdy kid, right? Did he get a physical class then?" Athina asked, as Silvia got up from the couch.


    "Nah, a magical class. A summoning class, at that," she replied, walking up to the kitchen island.


    Athina raised her brow, "Ryan was the one that caused that whole mess during your orientation week, right? Or was that Modak?"


    "Nope, that was Ryan. He doesn''t know why he got a magical class either, but he doesn''t seem super upset with it. We''re going out to buy some stuff that he needs later. Actually..." Silvia explained, glancing at her phone, "I should get ready to head out in a bit."


    "Hold on, what kind of mess did he cause?" Dimos asked confused, but Silvia just waved the question away.


    "Just some accident, that''s all."


    "An accident that ended up with a broken nose, multiple fractured ribs, and a massive scandal, if I remember correctly?" Athina scoffed, looking at her daughter with a hand on her hip.


    Dimos looked around confused, as Silvia shrugged, "Yeah, Ryan accidentally beat up a creep that was trying to harass some of the freshmen girls."


    "Pretty sure I remember there being a bit more to it than that, but fair enough," Athina replied, looking over at Dimos whose expression was already showing his confusion and worry about what kind of person his daughters were friends with, "I''ll explain it to you later, it''s a long story. But he''s a good kid, don''t worry."


    "If you say so..." Dimos muttered quietly as Silvia walked up to him, giving him a hug.


    "I''ll go get ready now, have a safe trip."


    "Thank you very much. You have fun with your... ''rowdy'' friend," Dimos replied, as Silvia let go and made her way upstairs.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    The metal locker closed with a creak as Modak threw his backpack over his shoulder. With his headphones on his head, he walked out of the break room back into the front of the store. And as he walked to the entrance, he spotted two people standing there, already waiting for him.


    "Yo, how are you doing, man?" Ryan asked as he gave Modak a hug, quickly followed by Silvia who did the same.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Tired. Ready to drop into a coma. Only slept for like one or two hours last night," Modak pointed out, suppressing a yawn.


    "Hah, still more than the two of us," Silvia scoffed with her arms crossed, and Modak just stared back.


    "Elves should sleep for four hours, humans for seven, and orcs for nine. And I''m barely getting a good five on the regular," Modak pointed at the dark circles under his eyes as he looked at Ryan, "So, what did you want to get here? Lunch? Does Maximus have a special diet or something?"


    Ryan shook his head, "It doesn''t look like he eats at all. Spirits are sustained by magic, right? But no, basically, I''m looking to buy him some weapons."


    "...This is a grocery store."


    "To be exact, a grocery store that targets species with specific needs. Which means that you sell knives, tenderizers, pots, all that stuff, at a dozen different sizes," Ryan explained, starting to walk into the store as he grabbed one of the red baskets by the entrance.


    Curiously, Silvia walked up next to him, "What, he''s going to fight using kitchen utensils?"


    "Yep. Last night after you guys left, I gave him my exacto knife. His skills worked on it, insanely well. But considering that an exacto knife isn''t particularly strong, I figured equipping him with some more sturdy things wouldn''t be a bad idea. And, you know, Awakened stores don''t really sell things that work for him," Ryan explained, as Modak quickly took the lead.


    "That sounds incredibly reasonable. So what kind of stuff are you looking for? You mentioned knives, tenderizers, and... pots?" Modak stopped at the aisle that the three were looking for, and Ryan shrugged.


    "More like, lids, I guess. I was thinking they might make good shields?"


    "Clever, clever," Silvia squatted down, taking a look at the items on the lower shelves, "So, what''cha thinkin?"


    "Actually," Ryan held forward his hand, as a flood of red wisps poured out of his fingertips. Maximus appeared on his palm, "I was thinking we''d pick together. I explained the plan to him already, and he seemed up for it."


    Modak looked around at the shelves, picking up a few of the packages. The one he was holding now was a kitchen knife, "So what about things like this? The handles for most of these are way too big for him."


    "A lot of the time those are just screwed and glued on, we could pry them off and put new ones on?"


    Modak thought about Silvia''s suggestion, nodding his head as he turned to Ryan, "Right, that could work. Silvia, do you think you could..."


    "Yes, obviously I can. Got all I need at home," Silvia replied, excitedly.


    Ryan looked at his friends with a broad smile, happy to be getting their help. As she grabbed one of the knives and held it up to Maximus, Silvia tried to compare the sizes between the knife and the knight, "What about the size of these things in general? Can he even carry a knife that''s as big as him?"


    Ryan nodded immediately, "Oh yeah, for sure he can. I showed you his stats. Despite his size he has the physical strength of a 14 or 15 year old. And that''s just at level one."


    As the Knight looked around the new space that he found himself in, his eyes seemed to land on a few different things. He looked at the knife that Silvia was still holding next to him and nodded his head.


    "Seems like he''s into it," Silvia smiled, putting it into the basket Ryan was holding onto.


    "So what kind of weapons would he need?" Modak questioned, "He''s got a knife, so that''s basically like a sword, right?"


    "True, but I was thinking we could get a few different ones so he can fight in different ways. Like a cleaver, a serrated knife, one of those small cheese knives. But none of those will work against the monsters in the dungeon we''re going to, some blunt weapons would be better. So some metal meat tenderizers, and anything else that could work against stone. Though, since we''re here, I''d like to get anything I can get my hands on. I saved up a good chunk by now so I should be able to afford whatever I need."


    And with that, the four got to work. Silvia and Modak picked out whatever they thought could be useful, and if Maximus agreed, it would go into the basket. At the same time, Ryan would show Maximus around the aisle to see if there was anything that stuck out to him. If they found something that seemed like a better fit than what they already had, they would replace what was in the basket, and if it was cheap enough, they would get multiple. In the end, they got their hands on a decent selection of things.


    Some different knives, a few forks as well as spoons, though Ryan didn''t know why Maximus wanted spoons. Silvia suggested a set of metal chopsticks, and that she could probably file down and sharpen one pair. Not only that, but a pair of meat tenderizers, small pans, like those for single eggs, small metal rolling pins, as well as a pair of scissors and the metal pestle of a mortar and pestle set. For shields, they picked out some small pot lids and cutting boards, though especially for the latter it was hard to find one that was small enough for Maximus to comfortably hold, and that didn''t even account for the fact that it didn''t have any comfortable way to hold it. But once again, Silvia said she would take care of it and figure something out.


    "So... where are we going next? You''re gonna need more than just some stuff for Maximus, right?" as the group waited at the checkout register, Silvia looked at the items on the conveyor belt. All of it was really just for Maximus, not for Ryan.


    "For now, I''ll just get things for the dungeon I''ll be going to. The Awakened Centre had a computer I could log into Awakened-exclusive forums with, it''s super fucking cool by the way, so much sick stuff on there, but they had some info on the dungeon itself. The monsters in there are made of stone and metal, so next I''ll try to buy a sledgehammer and a pickaxe at that home improvement store a few blocks down," Ryan explained, looking at the list that he had written down on his phone.


    Modak glanced at the list for a moment and curiously looked at his friend, "Why a home improvement store? Wouldn''t a weapon store be a bit better? Since you''ve registered, you should have access to those now, right?"


    "Well, yes, but everything in there is super expensive. And while I was having lunch in the Channel earlier, I met this guy, an Awakened Chef, and he told me that there''s really not a massive difference between tools for Awakened and non-Awakened. He said he was using the same knives he''s used since before he awakened."


    "Then why are those Awakened stores even a thing?" Silvia asked confused, and Ryan quickly glanced at her as he paid for everything with his phone.


    "I mean, there''s a difference when you get to higher tiers, apparently. A regular joe isn''t gonna need some highly-enchanted pickaxe, so those aren''t sold in regular stores. They''re pretty expensive to make, too. Not to mention things made of mithril or adamantine. Also, they sell swords, bows, axes, guns, and whatever else some classes depend on that are too dangerous to just be sold elsewhere. Though you''ll need licenses for a lot of specific types of weapons anyway. The Awakened Centre apparently offers a bunch of courses for that."


    The group made their way out of the grocery store, quickly walking to their next destination, when Modak was reminded of something else, "By the way, won''t you need something like armour as well? It sounds kind of dangerous to go without any kind of protection."


    "I''ve got that one covered too," Silvia pointed out smugly, "Once we''re done here, we''ll head down to Driftwood to the fabric store I usually go to. They sell a ton of stuff, including some materials for basic armour."


    Ryan smiled a bit awkwardly at Silvia before turning back toward Modak, "Yeah, she told me about that earlier while we were waiting for you to finish. Said she wouldn''t let me pay for it either..."


    "...Aren''t materials like that pretty expensive? And hard to work with? Will you be fine?" Modak questioned, just as confused as Ryan was when Silvia mentioned it to him earlier.


    "I love giving gifts to my friends, so what? And you know I''ve got the money to spare."


    "Right, I keep forgetting that you''re actually already a professional... why are you going to uni, by the way?"


    "The fine arts course at NRU is pretty good, and one of my professors is actually an Awakened with the ''Painter'' class. I figured it''d be helpful," Silvia explained with a broad grin on her face, "Plus, because of my history, I was able to get a special admission to the school where I''m allowed to take some classes in other courses, like fashion design, architecture; stuff like that. It''s pretty neat."


    Modak sighed deeply as he looked down at the ground, "Can we count that as nepotism, somehow? So unfair..."


    Ryan scoffed, "Dude, you serious? One of your mechanical engineering profs went to you for your opinion with his work. You''re not really one to talk here."


    "Says the most famous first-year student in the history of our school, our Knight in scuffed-up armour," Silvia pointed out, but Ryan just looked at her as he tried to hide his reddening cheeks.


    "Please don''t call me that... Also, that doesn''t help me with any of my classes, just makes people either scared of me, or hit on me. Though that last part is pretty nice..."


    "You bet it is. Oh that reminds me, that really cute Changeling girl invited us all to some club, right? When was that again?" Silvia thought, and Ryan let out a long sigh, as though he had only just remembered.


    "I forgot about that with everything that''s going on... It was this Saturday, actually... I might skip out on it this time, honestly. You guys feel free to go without me though."


    "Seriously? You''re the one that drags us out to pubs every other night," Modak complained.


    "And again, we were invited by a really cute Changeling girl," Silvia emphasized, but Ryan shook his head.


    "The dungeon stuff is more important right now. Depending on when I go, I might join, but no promises. Also, Silvia, she might have invited us through me, but she''s clearly super into you. And from the sound of it, that goes both ways."


    "...Shut up, just come join!"


    "Seriously, I don''t want to be the third wheel all night," Modak sighed loudly, but Silvia immediately turned to him with a raised brow.


    "In that case, if Ryan can''t come, I could invite Yanna," she pointed out, watching Modak''s face turn a dark green.


    Ryan grinned with a chuckle, "In that case, it might really be better if I don''t come, huh?"


    "...Le-Let''s just talk about this later, alright?" as he stuttered, Modak picked up the pace so that his friends wouldn''t see his face. Though of course, they both knew exactly what expression he was making.

 08 - Dungeon Air

    Ryan wiped the last of the tables clean, getting ready to open the caf¨¦ for the day, glancing over toward his uncle stood behind the counter.


    "You know..." he said, feeling a little awkward, "What was my dad like? From your perspective?"


    Runar snapped his head around in surprise, "Uhh... Where''s that coming from?"


    "I''m just curious... mom sent me some of his old stuff the other day, and I realized that I don''t really know that much about him beside what mom told me, and she... doesn''t talk about him that much," Ryan explained, not fully turning toward his uncle.


    "I mean... what do you want to know? There''s a lot to say about him. He was always honest, helped those around him whenever he could... got in trouble with our father a lot," Runar leaned onto the counter in contemplation, a small, bitter smile on his face. Ryan didn''t see him like that a lot.


    "Why did he get in trouble?"


    "Ah... Our father..." Runar sighed, as the topic moved to a direction he didn''t particularly seem to like, but he still explained as best he could, "He was very traditional, I guess? He put a lot of pressure and expectations on Hayden, wanting to turn him into something that he just... wasn''t. And Hayden would not stay quiet about the fact it really wasn''t what he wanted. And then, when our father died, he... he left. Moved somewhere quiet, away from the rest of our family, met your mom and... you know the rest of the story."


    Ryan looked back at Runar with a frown, "And just left you alone?"


    "Oh, I mean, it was fine, I wasn''t like, alone. Our mom was still around back then, our cousins and friends supported us a lot... I guess I was mad at him for a while, though. I was 15, so obviously, you know? But there was also a 10-year age gap between us, so we hadn''t been super close until then anyway. We only reconnected about a year before he passed," Runar explained, even if he seemed a little nervous. But seeing Ryan''s expression, he quickly tried to clarify something, "There''s no hard feelings or anything, I get why he left, and honestly, it was the right decision for him. Things worked out really well, and if he had stayed... he wouldn''t have been happy. And that''s what really matters in the end."


    Ryan looked at the ground, trying to figure out how to word his next question properly, "Okay, this is gonna sound weird, but was he interested in magic at all? Like, spirits or something, maybe?"


    Runar froze up for a moment, something that didn''t get past Ryan, but he soon shook his head and replied, "Not that I know... But it''s possible, obviously. You never really know. Why?" he asked with a slight frown.


    Ryan slowly held forward his hand, "I found something in his things when mom sent them to me, and when I grabbed it, well..."


    Red wisps of light started to flow out of Ryan''s fingertips, gathering on the table in front of him. And soon, the light itself dimmed, revealing a small, model-sized knight.


    "I awakened," Ryan started, "This is Maximus, a spirit. He... well, his core was with dad''s stuff, so... I figured maybe you''d know something about it."


    When Ryan looked back up away from Maximus, for a fraction of a second, he spotted an expression of shock on Runar''s face that Ryan wasn''t able to pin down exactly. But just a moment later, Runar himself seemed to realize, and relaxed his face into a smile, "Holy shit, that''s... that''s fucking amazing! But a... a magic class, huh?"


    "Yeah, I know, I know..." Ryan replied, smiling awkwardly as he looked down at Maximus, "I had hoped for some kind of a physical class, but this one seems pretty fun too, I guess. I mean, it''s really not easy to get disappointed by awakening, so I really can''t complain."


    Runar stared at Maximus, not averting his gaze as he spoke, "So, you found that spirit''s core, and that made you awaken? And you''re sure it was with your dad''s stuff?"


    "Yeah, I''m sure. It was with some model-building stuff."


    "...right... And this happened the other day?" Runar asked. His eyes were still stuck on Maximus, and Ryan really didn''t know what was going on, but it was freaking him out.


    "Yeah, on Tuesday, after my shift. I went out to get it registered yesterday in the morning, and then Silvia, Modak and I went-"


    "Wait, you registered already?" Runar asked, his face even more pale than usual.


    "Yes? Was I not supposed to?" Confused at his uncle''s sudden worry, Ryan just stood there, unsure what was going on, "If you''re mad that i didn''t tell you beforehand, I''m sorry. But yesterday was one of your random ''break days''. I tried telling you on Tuesday already but you weren''t in your room, you wouldn''t reply to my texts, and the basement was locked, as always. What did you want me to do?"


    "...What about your mom, does she know?"


    "Of course she knows, I talked with her for like three hours last night about what my plans are and how this changes things. She trusts me to do the right thing, so why are you acting so weird?"


    Runar kept staring at Maximus, something that the Knight continued to reciprocate. In the end, Runar just let out a long sigh, "I''m sorry, I just... I''ve seen a lot of people''s lives changed by awakening, and not just for the better. I''m the only family you have here in the city, so I want to make sure that you''ll be alright."


    Ryan sighed deeply. Until now, Runar mostly acted like a friend, taking on more of an older-brother position. Seeing him this worried was unusual, especially considering his normal demeanour.


    "And I appreciate that, I really do. If I need your help with anything, I''ll tell you, but I know what I''m doing. It''s not the class that I expected, but I''m pretty happy with it. Maximus is great, and man, it''s a unique class! I''m so curious to see what''s gonna happen if I keep growing this."


    Runar looked at Ryan, still clearly concerned, "Just tell me if you need help with anything. I''ve got some friends that know a thing or two about spirits, so I can ask them. And text me some updates on big stuff that happens, alright?"


    "Right, of course. Well, right now, the only thing you''ve gotta know is that I''m going to a Dungeon tomorrow, and someone from Bluesky tried to buy my class yesterday. That guy might come here too, so just tell him I''m not interested if he does. Oh, but if you want, just use this whole thing to get some free stuff."


    "...Text me this kind of stuff right away from now on."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan stood in front of the factory. He was wearing the clothes that Silvia had specifically designed for him. On it were specific hooks and pockets to hold all the makeshift weapons that Ryan had bought for Maximus, so that Ryan could easily give Maximus whatever he could need. Of course, at the same time, it was all positioned and attached in ways that allowed Ryan to move without constraints so that he could fight as well.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    On Ryan''s legs and torso, hard protective pads were attached as armour, and Silvia had even customized the helmet that Ryan bought. She even borrowed Ryan''s backpack and added some loops to them that could hold the hammer and pickaxe for the dungeon.


    "That girl''s fucking insane," Ryan muttered to himself with a grin on his face. Silvia had done all this in just two days. Though, Ryan didn''t even want to think about how much all these materials were worth... if he got his hands on some item drops in the dungeon, he definitely had to buy her something. But that wasn''t what he had to concentrate on right now.


    Ryan looked at the checkpoint that had been set up just a few steps behind the old, rusted entrance, stepping up to the reinforced entry gate. He held his Awakened License up to the scanner at his side, and a green light quickly lit up in front of him as the gate opened up, allowing him to step inside. Once he was through, he could feel the quality of the air change considerably. Not that it was worse, just different. Ryan heard about this tons of times before. ''Dungeon Air''. Due to the high concentration of mana, there was a tangible difference in the quality. This presence of mana emanating from the dungeon''s heart was what caused the ''Dungeonification'' of the surrounding area, and if regular people lived in this ambience for a long time, they would end up with ''Mana Sickness''. If you had generally high aptitude for magic or awakened, getting mana sickness was a lot harder, though still possible. For high risk dungeons with particularly high concentrations of mana, even an awakened would collapse and vomit within minutes.


    And to protect the surrounding areas, and to prevent the growth of a dungeon into ''Stage 3'', the point where it affected the areas adjacent to the original structures, once a dungeon was found, a barrier with only limited entry points would be placed around it. Ryan had just stepped through one of those entry points. Turning around, Ryan noticed the refracting light on the surface of the barrier, like that shifting rainbow hue you would see on soap bubbles.


    Ryan placed his backpack onto the ground, first grabbing the pickaxe. He needed to try out both, but using this initially seemed a bit safer. From inside of his bag, he grabbed a few things. A pair of gloves, an energy drink, and a protein bar. He put on the well-fitted gloves with rubber pads on the palm and fingers. Hopefully, these should improve the grip he had on the pickaxe and hammer, and also make the whole thing a bit easier on his hands in general. Depending on how long he was going to be here today, his hands could suffer quite a bit. Ryan was confident in his stamina, but things like this always took more than you would expect.


    With a wave of his hand, a flow of red wisps flowed out from Ryan''s arm and hands, as Maximus appeared next to him. Ryan handed him one of the hammers, formerly a spiked meat tenderizer, and then leaned back against the brick wall next to him. Silvia had pried off the old handle and then wrapped the metal rod that acted as the handle''s core in some fabric. Since Maximus'' hands were gloved anyway, it didn''t need to be super comfortable. Maximus seemed quite happy with it as well, especially since he could wrap both his hands around it well enough. Silvia had really outdone herself, again.


    "We''ll head inside in a bit, I just need to get used to this air first..." Ryan explained to him, and Maximus replied with a slow nod. Taking a deep breath that left his throat weirdly warm, Ryan pulled on the energy drink''s tab and drank a mouthful. He tore off the protein bar''s wrapper with his teeth and quickly took a bite. Maximus was watching this intensely.


    "Hm? What, you want one as well?"


    Maximus slowly shook his head, and Ryan raised his brow for a moment. It didn''t take him long to understand why Maximus seemed confused, "Right, sorry. So basically, a ton of Dungeoneers suggest this before you head into a dungeon, especially for beginners. These don''t really do much once your physical stats get high enough, but for me right now, the extra energy won''t hurt, at least."


    As though he agreed, Maximus nodded his head in understanding, and then slowly turned toward the dungeon itself. It was a large, run-down factory that clearly hasn''t been used in a while. Though, it wasn''t a terrible sight, and he understood why urban explorers came here; the whole plot was filled completely with wildflowers. The factory''s brick walls as well as its smokestacks, were covered in vines and ivy. Quite impressed by the view, Ryan pulled out his phone. The gloves he bought could be used with touch-screens, luckily. He pulled up the camera and tried to take a picture of the building, but the photo ended up somewhat distorted. Dungeon Air tended to do that to regular cameras, and Ryan didn''t care enough about taking pictures to buy a phone with a mana-sensitive camera, so this would have to do. Though, these distorted pictures also had their own charm to them.


    He continued to take long, deep breaths until he seemed to get adjusted to the Dungeon Air, and then slowly pushed himself off the ground.


    "You remember the signs we agreed on?" Ryan asked, and Maximus nodded his head. Since Maximus wasn''t able to talk, and Ryan could only really understand rough ideas when interacting with the spirit, they agreed on some very simple hand-signs that Maximus would show to Ryan if he wanted to swap to a different weapon. Similarly, Ryan had a hand sign that he would show to Maximus for a single specific reason.


    To let Maximus know that he was about to activate the ''Spirit Link'' skill. Usually he would just tell him, but it would be a lot safer to be quiet inside of the dungeon whenever possible.


    Over the past few days, Ryan had used the ''Spirit Link'' skill a few times in preparation for today.


    Though it was mostly useful for a few specific circumstances, this skill would be very important for today.


    "And remember, just use your skills at your own discretion, don''t wait for my signal. I trust your judgement," Ryan reminded Maximus as he slowly pushed himself off the ground. He tightened his grip around the pickaxe''s handle with a smile, leaning down one more time to pick up Maximus.


    "You ready?"


    Maximus replied with a quick nod, as the two made their way toward the large door that was the factory''s entrance. Squatting down next to the door, Ryan carefully pushed it open and peeked inside. There was nothing there, so he carefully made his way inside while glancing at his phone screen. He had opened the Awakened Forum app, specifically the page for this dungeon. There was a rudimentary map on here spanning about 500 by 700 metres, though of course that probably wasn''t the full extent of the dungeon''s interior.


    A dungeon, once it reached Stage 2, would start distorting the space of the structure it infested. While it also changed the outside, to an extent, most of the change happened within the physical space within the dungeon. Most of the time, especially for dungeons like this that were still fairly young within Stage 2, the original structure''s spaces would be repeated and folded upon each other, almost as if seen through a broken kaleidoscope.


    The worst part was that they could change over time, though at least not without warning. This map should still be fine for now. If Ryan had better funds, he could have bought a dungeon-mapper. Though, it might be worth investing in if he ended up going into dungeons more anyway. Depending on how much you mapped out, you could get a decent chunk of money from the DMB, the Dungeon Management Bureau.


    Ryan stepped further into the building, keeping low as he did. Soon, he came by some rails on the ground. Glancing over at Maximus, who was also looking back at him, Ryan slowly and quietly moved forward. Luckily, the ground was covered in grass, weeds, and moss, so his footsteps were almost completely silent.


    However, it didn''t take long for him to hear a sound from a whole other source. Rusted metal scratching against even more rusted metal, and the reverberating sound of rocks being hit against steel repeatedly. Ryan peered around the corner, and spotted the first ''Monster'' he had ever seen. His heart was almost ready to jump out through his throat as he looked at the back of that figure.


    It was a person made completely out of stone, as if someone took a pile of bricks and vaguely moulded it into the shape of something that should resemble what seemed like a dwarf. It was trying to push a mine-cart filled with the green of deeply oxidized copper, but it seemed like something was blocking its way along the rails. Looking around, Ryan spotted a piece of ore that had probably dropped out of that very cart just earlier, and picked it up.


    He looked over at Maximus, who carefully nodded his head. Carefully, Ryan moved further around the corner, and threw the piece of ore at the back of the stone monster. Almost instantly, the monster turned around. Its legs were in the same position as before but its back twisted around 180 degrees, until it was looking straight at Ryan, squatting just barely in view. Once its legs and feet caught up to the rotation, the monster started running at Ryan; not particularly fast, but considering it was a dwarf-sized mass of stone, it was still pretty terrifying.


    While its heavy footsteps approached, Ryan and Maximus retreated back into the area they were in before, where it seemed a safer to fight this monster. Ryan tightened his grip on the pickaxe, but he wasn''t the one that was going to fight.


    Maximus grasped the former meat tenderizer, now an improvised war-hammer, with both of his hands, as Ryan could see a thin red light envelop the weapon and Maximus'' ''Knight''s Attack'' skill was activated.

 09 - First Takedown

    Maximus ran at the approaching stone dwarf, both hands holding tightly onto the improvised war-hammer''s handle. The hammer impacted on the monster''s ankle, as splinters of the brick that made up its whole body were flung into every direction. The hammer itself was swung back after the impact as the monster was momentarily stunned, though not for all too long.


    Taking the opportunity, Maximus jumped slightly backward while the monster stomped its injured foot down at the small Knight. The moment of the impact that Maximus had skilfully dodged, the hammer was once more swung at the exact same spot as earlier. A flurry of attacks started to unfold, as Maximus used the strength and expertise that filled that small body of his. And before long, the stone was cracked too much to carry the monster''s weight, and its ankle fully cracked and it fell to its knee. From where he was standing, Ryan was able to see everything unfold, ready to intervene with his pickaxe should he ever need to. However, there was a very important reason why he wasn''t doing so right away.


    While Ryan''s main purpose for coming here was to complete the quest that Maximus had given him, he thought that it was the best opportunity he was going to get to let Maximus level up. Every class had different ways of levelling up, adhering to the ''purpose'' of the class. Combat classes did so by fighting, and in particular a Knight levelled up by ''vanquishing evil''. Though Ryan wasn''t a big fan of the idea of assigning the concept of ''evil'' to anything, he knew that hunting dungeon monsters was one of the best ways of levelling up the Knight class. And since Ryan''s class wasn''t a direct combat one, he most likely wouldn''t see a massive amount of growth from fighting directly.


    If he had to guess, considering that his class was completely built around supporting spirits, at least thus far, his class would most likely grow if he did exactly that; act in a way that allowed Maximus to do what he does best.


    And to do that, Ryan was currently looking out for the way to kill this monster. He spotted roots slithering around the crevices of the monster''s stone body, as if those were the thing actually holding it all together. They were also already growing and trying to pick up the parts that splintered off through Maximus'' attack, most likely to repair itself.


    However, as he looked around, there was one part of this plant that was actually exposed. A small, faint red bud that had yet to bloom, just barely peeking out from the bricks right where this thing''s ear should be.


    "Maximus," Ryan said, trying to stay just under yelling volume so that his voice would echo as little as possible. He had purposefully moved to a place where Maximus could look at him without leaving himself open, as he pointed to his ear. The knight replied with a quick nod as he ran around the monster''s body, which twisted around to continue keeping track of its tiny opponent. If it kept doing this, then Maximus wouldn''t be able to properly attack the bud, so Ryan quickly ran in and kicked away the monster''s foot, purposefully crushing the plant''s roots under his boot.


    The monster quickly turned its attention toward Ryan and reached out to him, grabbing the end of the pickaxe''s handle. However, before Ryan even needed to do anything like pry the tool away, Maximus jumped up.


    With the physical strength he had combined with the low weight of his body, Maximus should even be able to jump right onto Ryan''s head with ease, so reaching a kneeling dwarf''s ear was an easy matter.


    Maximus swung his hammer straight at the bud, angling it just right so that the unprotected, juvenile flower was torn off. The moment that this happened, Ryan could see the roots within the monster''s body wither away, leaving only a pile of bricks behind.


    <hr>


    [You have killed a Level 1 -Dungeon Monster-]


    <hr>


    As the system message appeared, Ryan experienced something he hadn''t noticed before.


    Small particles of dim light, so dim that it would be impossible to spot if it weren''t for the shadows of this ruined structure, surrounded Maximus like a cloud of dust releasing from a surface all at once, before soon flowing back inside of the armour. But it wasn''t just Maximus; as he looked down at his hand, Ryan spotted similar grains of dimly glowing dust surround him for a brief instant. It felt both warm and cold, almost like frostbite, just without any sort of pain connected to it. He had gathered some ''experience''. It seemed like he was on the right track; simply supporting Maximus was going to let him level up.


    And now that he properly realized this, he could recognize this sensation from when he was actually building Maximus'' body. He was feeling a lot of new things then, since he was using magic for the first time, but he most likely gained some experience then as well. That being the case, Ryan did wonder how close he was to levelling up.


    He stepped over to the pile of bricks and picked one of them up. It was a lot lighter than it should be. Curiously, Ryan tightened his grip on the brick and watched it crumble away like it was made of foam. These bricks had been created by the dungeon specifically for this monster, and now that it was ''dead'', it was reclaiming the materials it used, which was making it as weak as foam. It should take a few more minutes until it was fully gone, but Ryan didn''t want to wait that long. He took the bricks and placed them on a pile next to him, searching through the monster''s stone remains. And then, on the ground below them, amongst some crumbs of that foam-brick, Ryan found what he was looking for.


    ''Some... seeds? Those are the drops..?'' Ryan thought to himself, though he wasn''t sure what he was expecting. A monster like this wouldn''t drop anything special. Though he doubted he could sell these seeds to anyone for more than some spare change, maybe he could try planting them in some pots on the balcony. Runar did love plants, so maybe this was going to help smooth things over with him.


    Ryan opened up the small pouch hanging off his belt and placed all of the tiny seeds inside. He stood back up and wiped the dust off his gloves, looking back over at Maximus, "Good to go?"


    The Knight nodded his head, and Ryan and Maximus continued on through the dungeon. Though, it didn''t take long until they ended up in a slightly worrisome situation. Just behind the minecart that the monster was trying to push forward was a door that seemed to lead into a larger hall. According to the map, this was one of the rooms corresponding to the part of the old foundry where the metal was actually smelted down and cast into ingots. Ryan could hear some footsteps beyond the door. So, he had two options.


    One, turn around and go to another part of the dungeon that was easier to look over. However, avoiding spaces like this didn''t seem like a good option at all. The quest that Maximus gave him was to investigate this place, and staying in the safe parts wouldn''t really make for a great investigation. He needed to go to places where things were actually happening.


    So, number two it was. Ryan looked over at Maximus and gave him the hand-sign they had decided on, before the knight quickly nodded his head. And so, Ryan activated one of his skills, ''Spirit Link''.


    <hr>


    [Spirit Link]


    [Level - 3] [Proficiency - 56%]


    [Allows for the user to mentally link with the target Spirit, guiding their actions. During the activation period, the user has an extremely strong understanding of the target Spirit''s body and the effect of their skills]


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    [Effect - Spirit Link for 10 Minutes 40 Seconds]


    [Cost - 10.5 MP] [Cooldown - 40 Minutes 20 Seconds]


    <hr>


    It was already at 56%, so it might level up today, depending on how much he was going to end up needing to use it. He concentrated on the skill''s effect and watched as those red wisps of magic flowed out from his chest and over to Maximus. They thinned out and flowed around each other, slowly forming a thread as thin as spider''s silk.


    The moment that the thread fully formed, Ryan felt a wave of dizziness come over him. He didn''t exactly share Maximus'' senses now, but he simply ''knew'' what it was that the spirit was seeing and hearing. As if the processed information that you would gather by looking at things was simply given to him. It was a bit awkward to keep track of, but that was the main thing that Ryan and Maximus had been practicing while using this skill, so that Ryan could actually make use of this skill decently.


    There were some other effects, like allowing Maximus to copy Ryan''s movement almost perfectly, but there wasn''t a real use for that right now. Maximus was more than skilled at fighting on his own. However, due to the way that senses were shared, this skill could be used in a very specific way.


    Maximus walked through the small gap in the ajar door, quickly rushing over to one of the rusted minecarts that had been left standing nearby. Using it as cover, he moved around it and then made his way to one of the other pieces of machinery within this large room, until he positioned himself in a way where he could safely see the area around the door that he had just left. Seeing that there was no monster directly nearby, Ryan slowly pushed open the door, waited a second, and while crouched, rushed toward the minecart. Like this, the two continued making their way through the room. And it didn''t take long until a few of the monsters popped up, walking through the rows between the heavy machinery and broken-down carts. And whenever they did, Maximus would look for them, taking advantage of his small size, and Ryan would use the information given to him through ''Spirit Link'' to navigate safely. However, the skill effect only lasted for a bit more than ten minutes.


    Luckily, there was a catwalk nearby, and the stairway was positioned so that Ryan was able to make his way up there without being spotted. There were some other monsters on the catwalk in other parts of the room, but there were plenty of crates to allow Ryan to hide himself without being spotted, and most of the monsters were over by the crucible anyway, and not back here where Ryan and Maximus were hiding out.


    Ryan carefully sneaked over the catwalk, trying to get to a better position to see what was going on. All the monsters were walking around that massive crucible on the other side of the room. The heat in here was already unbearable, but it was clearly a lot worse right over there. Ryan was able to see the monsters carry the heavily-oxidized copper to the top of the crucible, throwing it into the red hot liquid inside. And now that he was here, Ryan could actually see the differences in the monsters; they weren''t all dwarves, at least.


    Some looked more like humans or elves in their stature, others a bit more bulky and muscular like orcs. And there was a single on that was far taller than the rest, a Cyclops. Though Cyclopes were a species that was in the vast minority here in this country, making up only about a percent of all people in all of Riveria, they made up a significant portion of workers during the era of industrialization, and to this day could be seen in construction and these sorts of factories. However, right now, seeing a four-metre Cyclops made of stone was quite terrifying, and the fact that these ''Worker'' monsters were replications of the people that used to work in this factory quickly became quite annoying. Ryan frowned lightly as he stared at the crucible. It was nearly filled to the top.


    Since this is a fairly new dungeon, there wasn''t too much information about this place yet beyond some basic maps that were created using special tools, as well as the general appearance of the monsters. So far, three monsters had been found.


    The first, most common, and weakest; the ''Worker''. The ones that were currently swarming the dungeon. The second had been dubbed the ''Foreman'', which seemed quite similar in general, but the gaps in-between bricks were filled completely with copper, and there were certain areas completely covered in copper as well. The last kind was even more enhanced, the ''Manager'', but Ryan did hope that he didn''t have to encounter one of those today. However, as he looked around, Ryan thought this was too good of an opportunity to simply pass up.


    He looked at one of the sheaths attached to his pants, detaching the scissors from it. Silvia had sharpened these a ton apparently, creating a second edge on each of the scissor-blades, meaning that Ryan had to be really careful with this. But this seemed like the best tool for the job.


    "Ready to nip some buds?" Ryan whispered, and Maximus immediately nodded his head. He held the hammer back toward Ryan and then swapped it for the scissors. Maximus opened them wide, and when they were opened to their limit, the piece that was keeping them together in the middle released with a click, as the knight was now holding dual blades.


    Ryan carefully picked up Maximus and continued moving forward in a crouch. Soon, they got close to one of the Workers that was up here on the Catwalk with them. It was walking toward one of the sets of stairs, but looking around, this seemed like probably the best time to attack. Ryan looked for the flower bud, but it wasn''t by the ear this time. Instead, it was left of where a belly-button would be. Right now, the two were hidden behind on of the old, half-rotten crates, and the monster would be walking right past them.


    It was about five steps away when Ryan got ready. Maximus carefully held the scissor-blades while hanging onto Ryan''s hands, who was holding the knight in front of his chin, getting ready to toss him forward.


    Once it was three steps away, Ryan could feel his heart pound in his chest, almost drowning out the sound of the monster''s footsteps on the metal surface. Maximus activated his ''Knight''s Attack'' skill.


    When it was just a single step away, Ryan slightly pulled Maximus back for the moment that the monster stepped into sight, and Maximus'' blades were fully enveloped in that soft red light.


    Maximus was thrown forward, passing by right in front of the Worker''s belly. With a skilful, quick motion, the soft pink flower bud was cut apart. The monster seemed to react for just a moment, but immediately fell forward onto its knees as the roots holding its body together were rotting away.


    The sound was quite loud from where Ryan was standing, since it was right in front of him, but considering the general volume in the room, it didn''t seem like any of the other Workers heard it. Or if they did, they didn''t seem to care to investigate, simply continuing on with their work without batting an eye. Though, they didn''t have eyes to begin with.


    Ryan grinned lightly as he dismissed the kill-message in front of him, as Maximus carefully landed on the branching catwalk that Ryan had been facing. This seemed like a fairly simple tactic of fighting these things, at least as long as Ryan knew where the bud was and the monster didn''t see them beforehand. So while it did require a few things to fall into place, it still seemed effective. Just knowing for sure that the flower bud was the weakness of all these guys was already good enough for Ryan to figure something out for the others. Having such a basic, fragile, and clearly exposed weakness would definitely make this a lot easier.


    Ryan could once more feel that wave of ''experience'' come over him, and carefully started putting the monster''s bricks to the side. Once again, only seeds were dropped. Ryan carefully picked up as many of them as he could and placed them into his pouch.


    Though, as he did, a red window popped up in front of him. From the colour, he could tell that it was a notification relating to Maximus.


    <hr>


    [The -Knight''s Attack- Skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    ''Already? So it''s level 4 now,'' Ryan thought. It was the highest skill either him or Maximus had so far. The Spirit Link and Spirit Construction skills were the next in line, each being at level 3. Though, as Ryan looked at the skill''s effect, he couldn''t help but be impressed with that level of growth.


    <hr>


    [Knight¡¯s Attack]


    [Level - 4] [Proficiency ¨C 2%]


    [An offensive aura envelops your weapon]


    [Effect - +17.5% Damage for 1 Minute]


    [Cost ¨C 13 AP] [Cooldown ¨C 2 Minutes]


    <hr>


    At level 1, the skill only gave a 10% damage-boost. If it kept growing like this, this would clearly be a ridiculous skill, though with the AP cost rising alongside the damage, it would clearly also get quite expensive over time. Luckily, it was apparently possible to use a skill at a lower level than what one actually reached, though it would yield much less proficiency. It was something that usually only the cream of the crop were able to do, but seeing how Maximus moved, Ryan was confident that he would be able to do it at some point.


    Whichever the case, Ryan looked around at the other parts of the catwalk. There were more monsters here. Maybe if they took all these down, it would be enough to earn either Maximus or himself a level-up.

 10 - Level Up

    Ryan sneaked around the wooden crate, getting dangerously close to that humanoid figure made of brick, held together by a flower''s roots. And then, he finally found the bud of that flower; it was hidden at its side, covered by its arm most of the time. This was going to be a bit rougher to deal with, but him and Maximus really did have to take this one down. It stood in the way of where they needed to go; a door leading to another room via these catwalks.


    However, Ryan had an idea. He locked eyes with Maximus and carefully placed the knight down onto the front of his left boot, where he was holding onto the laces. Slowly, Ryan moved forward toward the back of the monster, tightening his grip on his pickaxe. He had practiced with this plenty yesterday, so he had a pretty good feeling of the range of this thing. But it was also going to be his first time actually swinging it at one of the monsters in this dungeon.


    Ryan suppressed his breath, trying to be as quiet as he could be, as he stood up and straightened his back. He pulled the pickaxe back and with a swift motion, swung it right at the monster''s underarm. The pickaxe was lodged between the bricks as fragments were flung around. Keeping the pickaxe pushed in so it wouldn''t dislodge, Ryan pulled his whole upper body backward while shifting his weight onto his right leg, pushing his other foot into the monster''s hip, or where its hip would be, as though he was trying to tear its arm off. With this, before the Monster was even able to properly react, Maximus was delivered basically right to the flower bud and was able to quickly cut through it. Immediately, Ryan could feel the resistance of the bricks disappear, and quickly twisted his body around so that he wouldn''t be thrown backward.


    The monster fell apart into a pile of bricks as the roots that supported its body disappeared, and Maximus glanced up at Ryan, who wasn''t able to hide the broad grin on his face. Doing things like this, fighting freely without restraint was just exciting beyond belief. It made Ryan feel a bit of regret at not having gotten a physical class that would allow him to train his combat abilities much more easily, but at the same time, fighting alongside Maximus was a unique experience as well. Not to mention, he had grown quite attached to Maximus, so he wouldn''t trade this class for anything. Not even that massive, life-changing amount of money that Bluesky was offering to buy his class.


    Ryan squatted down in front of the pile of bricks, pushing it all to the side to look for the seeds, when two windows appeared in front of Ryan. One was pale blue, like the ones that always popped up in front of Ryan when he was checking his own skills. And one was a deep red, belonging to Maximus.


    They both said the same thing.


    <hr>


    [You have levelled up!]


    <hr>


    Ryan''s heart pounded in his chest. If he didn''t know any better, he would swear that others would be able to his see chest rapidly pop up and down, and a broad grin appeared on his face.


    Immediately, Ryan pulled up his and Maximus'' status windows.


    <hr>


    [Ryan Aglecard] [Age - 19]


    [Spirit Keeper | Level - 2 (+1)]


    [MP - 21 (+3)]


    [Stats]


    -[Dexterity - 1.17 (+0.05)]


    -[Intuition - 1.1 (+0.09)]


    -[Mana - 0.62 (+0.06)]


    -[Sociability - 1.06 (+0.08)]


    -[Spirituality 0.55 (+0.08)]


    [Skills]


    -[Spirit Construction | Level - 3]


    -[Spirit Domain | Level - 1]


    -[Spirit Link | Level - 3]


    [Maximus]


    [Knight | Level - 2 (+1)]


    [AP - 23 (+5)]


    [Stats]


    -[Aura - 0.66 (+0.1)]


    -[Strength - 0.87 (+0.08)]


    -[Stamina 0.77 (+0.06)]


    -[Resistance - 0.86 (+0.06)]


    -[Physicality - 0.81 (+0.09)]


    [Skills]


    -[Knight''s Attack | Level - 4]


    -[Knight''s Guard | Level - 2]


    -[Knight''s Martial Knowledge | Level - 2]


    <hr>


    Ryan looked at the increases within the knight''s as well as his own statuses, and was more than just happy with it. Both his own and Maximus'' five base stats increased by more than 0.3 total each, which was actually slightly above the average. Especially Maximus, his stats increased by nearly 0.4.


    While Ryan couldn''t feel a massive difference just yet, there was definitely something tangibly different than it had been just a minute ago. Whether it was his senses or that subtle heat flowing through his body; it all just became clearer. Though, the kinds of stats that Ryan had were a bit harder to really notice in the first place. He should really start working out with Yanna so that he could unlock some physical stats beyond ''Dexterity''. Those wouldn''t automatically increase by levelling up, but training was usually considered a more effective method of increasing your stats anyway.


    That was, if you weren''t Maximus. He was training like a madman whenever he was in the Domain, but his stats never increased. Which, to an extent, made sense. His body was something that was ''built'' by Ryan, after all. It most likely wouldn''t be able to increase in strength that easily. Though, Maximus didn''t seem to care that his stats didn''t increase through training, at least when Ryan asked him about it. Maybe that training was just some kind of habit that had formed, like something to let off steam.


    For a short moment, Ryan looked over at Maximus, who was seemingly hoping to quickly move on. He was right, Ryan could geek out over all of this later when there wasn''t a constant threat of being attacked. After getting rid of the system windows, Ryan quickly picked up the seeds that the monster dropped and then grabbed Maximus. The two quickly hurried over to the doorway that this worker had blocked. Peeking through, it seemed to be completely empty. It seemed like some kind of break room, with old tables set up in rows for the factory workers to eat their lunch at.


    Since this place was empty right now, Ryan quickly took the opportunity to check his phone. There was a specific place that he was looking for; the office.


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    When looking at the factory''s original blueprint and comparing it to the map of the dungeon, the only room that seemingly wasn''t copied over was the elevated office space overseeing the main foundry hall. Of course, a dungeon''s layout usually didn''t adhere to what it was before. For example, this break room was originally near the entrance and on the ground floor, not here on this elevated level you could only access through the catwalks. However, it was unusual for a space to be completely missing from the dungeon.


    That was, unless it was done deliberately. Maybe the dungeon was initially born within the office space, so it was treating that area as a bit more ''special'', turning it into either a unique or a much rarer occurrence. That was Ryan''s current theory, at least. And if that was the case, whatever it was that pulled Maximus to this dungeon would probably be in there. He didn''t even bat an eye at anything else in the dungeon so far, after all.


    He looked at the map provided on the Awakened Forum''s page for this dungeon, trying to figure it out somehow. But if the dungeon could purposefully hide away the offices, then it probably had a fairly high connectivity to the space itself, so there should be some kind of pattern there. Especially because the monsters were acting in very specific ways, Ryan guessed that this dungeon might already be a lot more intelligent than you would think.


    And then, Ryan noticed it. At the edge of the currently explored dungeon was an empty space on the map. It wasn''t particularly large; actually, it was quite small, so it was easy for him to overlook it until now. Adjacent to that empty space were hallways as well as one of these production halls that Ryan was in just now. Initially he thought that it would just be a space that the dungeon hadn''t taken into account, but looking at the rest of the map, it was all fitting together like a perfect puzzle. Having that kind of space just left open like that without any kind of entrance was far too suspicious. However, it was pretty deep into the dungeon, so Ryan would have to be careful on his way there.


    Just as he was thinking that, Ryan heard heavy footsteps outside in the large hall. He peeked up and looked out of the door leading back. There wasn''t a monster there, so he carefully stepped out, and saw that something was going on at the crucible. It was quite literally overflowing now, with splatters of molten copper hitting the ground. But right in front of it, where the moulds would usually be placed, stood one of the workers. The Cyclops-shaped monster was holding onto the edge of the crucible, and carefully tipped it over. A flood of red hot, liquid metal flowed over the worker. That whole massive crucible was emptied on top of it, but there was barely a puddle forming at its feet, as though its body was soaking up all the metal like a sponge.


    It didn''t take long for the metal to seemingly cool down; it happened much faster than normal, but this wasn''t quite the usual process anyway, so Ryan dismissed the dungeon''s logic. All that copper was created by the dungeon in the first place, so it could do whatever it wanted with it. Either way, once the metal had cooled down, Ryan saw the second type of monster for the first time.


    The newly-created foreman took a step forward. The flower bud that had been growing on its chest had now bloomed into a metallic copper flower, and the gaps between the bricks were completely filled in with metal as well. Nonetheless, it seemed to be moving perfectly fine.


    Without hesitation, the foreman walked over to a nearby pile of copper ore that hadn''t been thrown into the crucible yet, picking up a piece of the oxidized, green ore before holding it up to the flower on its chest. And as if it was a vacuum sucking in a ball of hair, the copper was quickly devoured. The foreman did so with all of the remaining copper that was laying there, and when it was finally done, a small area of copper had formed around its chest, now covering the bricks, as metallic tendrils started to spread over its body starting at the flower''s base.


    ''So that''s how they transform...'' Ryan thought to himself. If he could report that later on, he might actually be able to get a bit of money from the DMB. Unless someone else already reported this, of course.


    Ryan carefully stepped back into the break room. Now that a foreman was in this hall together with all the workers, Ryan really didn''t want to take any risks. There was another exit on the other side of the break room.


    Ryan rushed through the space, carefully peering through the doorway. It was another catwalk in some kind of storage room. Looking around, there weren''t that many workers in here, and only one or two on the catwalk network up here. Down below was a massive pile of raw copper ore, that different workers were shovelling into the minecarts so that another one could start bringing it away. Though, the rails were leading away from the room that Ryan was just in. If the Dungeon wanted to create more foremen, then it would''ve been a lot easier to just connect this storage room to the adjacent room with the crucible.


    ''Maybe there''s something about the ritual of bringing the ore through the rest of the building,'' Ryan thought to himself. Most dungeons worked in that kind of way, following arbitrary rules that it imposed on itself. Whichever the case, Ryan didn''t really have the time to think about that right now. He slowly continued on, trying to get an overview of the space and the monsters within it. Before long, he figured out a good moment to try and get out, and quietly rushed down the catwalk''s stairs. He turned around the corner into the hallway, trying to remember the map in his mind.


    ''One right, two lefts, straight, and then right and left again...'' he repeated in his mind over and over again. Luckily, by now the ''Spirit Link'' skill cooled down, so he was able to use it again and send Maximus ahead for scouting. Since even when he was sprinting, Maximus didn''t make any noise due to his low weight, the knight was running a bit of a distance ahead of Ryan, checking out the hallways and spaces that they had to go through to get to their destination.


    Now that they had a clue about where they had to go, that was their focus instead of trying to keep taking down more Workers. They could do that later on their way back, where they would end up closer to the dungeon''s entrance in case something went wrong.


    The way they were moving, it didn''t take the pair all too long to get to their destination, and they were soon just a little bit away from the space that Ryan guessed to be the office. Maximus seemed to be getting more motivated to continue on as well, as if he was sensing what it was that made him want to come here in the first place.


    However, there was an issue. There was a monster walking through that hallway, and if it had just been a worker, that wouldn''t have been an issue. But it was a foreman. Those metallic flowers that sprouted from the buds couldn''t just be cut apart, so they would probably have to be destroyed otherwise, and definitely wouldn''t go down with just a single attack either.


    But that wasn''t even the worst part. The foreman was based on a Cyclops. A three-metre mountain of bricks and metal. Copper tendrils were covering nearly its whole body, with reddish-brown buds carefully sprouting along them. This was clearly a more advanced version of the foreman, and Ryan didn''t know if that already made it stronger than others.


    He thought for a moment. It would be too risky to just face the foreman, and due to the position of the metal flower that they had to destroy, the difficulty was raised even more. It was right in the centre of its face, where its eye would usually be. He tapped his foot on the ground nervously, trying to come up with a solution. If there were just some kind of entrance to the office already, this wouldn''t be much of a problem. He could probably just sneak past the foreman somehow. But there wasn''t; Ryan would need to try and break through the wall somehow. And that would not only take time, but also make plenty of noise; it''s not the kind of thing he could do sneakily.


    But then, an idea came to him. Maybe he could lure the foreman away after all. He pulled out his phone and double-checked the map, looking for a good spot to execute the idea. Ryan used one of the entrances leading away from the foreman and sneaked through the foundry, soon finding the rails that he was looking for. If he followed these rails, then he would end up in one of the storage rooms with those massive piles of ore. He slowly made his way down the rails toward a specific area where he could hide out and wait for an opportunity. And it didn''t take long for a worker with a cart to come by either.


    Since Maximus and Ryan already had some practice with these guys, it wasn''t particularly hard to take the worker down. And once he did, he took his pickaxe and lodged it under the wheel, trying to tip the cart over somehow. Luckily, the handle of the pickaxe was also made of metal and was well-reinforced, so there was no threat of breaking it. Though, Ryan had to shovel parts of the ore out of the cart first to make it a bit lighter, but soon managed to finally tip the whole thing over.


    Immediately, Ryan picked up as much of the ore as he could possibly carry, creating small mounds of it at regular distances leading back to the tipped-over minecart. He was creating a trail for the foreman to follow right back to the minecart filled to the brim with ore.


    As he was making his way here, he had spotted two other foremen that he had been able to avoid easily enough. But each of them was picking up any copper that was left behind on the ground, ignoring the carts and storage rooms completely, so Ryan figured they only ''cleaned up'' any ore that wasn''t going to be directly used to create more foremen. And by tipping over that cart, Ryan hoped that it would count in the same way, and would keep the cyclops foreman distracted for long enough.


    Ryan turned around the corner, placing down the last small pile, holding one of the clumps of ore in his hand, getting ready to bolt down the hallway in the other direction. He could see the foreman in the distance, its back turned to him right now. Ryan took a deep breath, and threw the ore into the hallway, specifically aiming for a spot without grass or moss. But before it even landed, Ryan was around the corner and rushing toward one of the nearby doorways, as he heard the footsteps of the massive monster come closer to the corner. They stopped for a while, then moved on. Then stopped for a while, and moved on. It seemed to be working.


    Now, he just had to get back to that hallway.

 11 - The Core Room

    Ryan carefully peered into the hallway. The foreman was gone; he could now try to break through the wall into the hidden office space. However, he still had to be careful; he had no idea if that monster could come back, or if another one might come around the corner any moment now. Just in case, Maximus would stand in a position where he could see if anything was approaching so that he could warn Ryan.


    But first, he had to take a look around to see if there was any spot that he could break down more easily than others. After all, at the end of the day, a dungeon was created as a reflection of the space it infested, and the rules of the space before did usually influence the dungeon itself. And a simple rule of buildings like this was that every room needed a door. Of course, if Ryan was right about this, then the dungeon was already smart enough to hide the office away, but he doubted that a young dungeon like this could just ignore rules like that. If it could, it would just be able to close off whole corridors that would lead to this space instead of just hiding away the room itself.


    And as Ryan made a loop around that closed-off room, he found what he was looking for. The outline of what seemed to be an old doorway. You saw this kind of thing often when the area around an old brick house was reconstructed; shapes that were clearly once doors but were turned into walls by simply filling in the doorway.


    Right now, it was also covered in layers of moss and ivy, as if the dungeon was trying everything it could to hide it away. Ryan took the serrated knife that was originally part of Maximus'' arsenal and started to cut away the ivy while tearing off as much of moss and the rest of the plants as he possibly could. It didn''t take long until Ryan had exposed nearly the full doorway, and it became even more clear that the dungeon was trying to hide something behind here. The ivy and moss was growing rapidly back over the doorway. Well, rapidly compared to normal plants, at least. He could actively see them wriggle and move, but it would take a while for them to be able to cover the whole thing again. By then, Ryan would hopefully be done.


    After putting away the serrated knife again, Ryan grabbed his pickaxe, and didn''t hesitate to swing it at the filled-in doorway, specifically aiming at the gaps between the bricks. The sharp tip dug into the mortar, and as he kept going, he could tell that the wall was getting weaker. He did have to hide a few times while some workers walked past, but it seemed that overall, the noise that he was making wasn''t actually too much of a bother. It didn''t take long until the first bricks were already quite loose, so Ryan pulled off his backpack, re-attaching the pickaxe to swap it for the sledgehammer he had been carrying with him as well. All this stuff he was carrying with him was super heavy, but also clearly worth it.


    Ryan grabbed the hammer and swung it at the loosened bricks. The first seemed to fall into the space beyond, and Ryan''s motivation only rose. Hit after hit, the door opened up more and more, until it was large enough for Ryan to squeeze through. Maximus came running over, and the two stepped into the dark space together. Ryan reached backward and grabbed the torch hanging on the side of his backpack. The moment he pressed the button to turn it on, the thick dust in the room was illuminated.


    As he moved the light of the torch around, Ryan was left just a little confused. There was nothing here. Of course, he did end up finding the office, but that was really all it was. An old, dusty office with a single desk in it. Piles of boxes with paper that had already turned back into pulp, rusted filing cabinets. Nothing but a trashed and ravaged room that you could find in any building that''s been left abandoned and re-discovered by bored teens.


    Ryan let out a deep sigh, shaking his head a bit annoyed. Did he go through all of that for nothing? Was that just a false lead from Maximus?


    However, as Ryan took a breath in again, he could feel an incomparable dizziness come over him. It was like when he first stepped into the barrier surrounding the dungeon, just a lot more intense. The amount of mana in this room was completely oppressive. That could only really mean one thing. Why didn''t he realize when he noticed that the office was this hidden away?


    This was the core room.


    "Shouldn''t it be way harder to get to this place..? Core rooms should be far better protected than this..!" Ryan muttered with an awkward expression. He thought that there would be more office spaces scattered about, and that there was just going to be some special items or something in here. That''s what was usually supposed to happen in dungeons like this. This was bad. Really, really bad.


    When a dungeon''s core room was invaded, it would go on high-alert. When a dungeon was more advanced, it would have an extremely powerful monster actually within the core room, but this one was clearly too young for that, and made do with a cyclops foreman. If that was the case, it had to be on its way right now.


    Ryan picked up Maximus off the ground and rushed back to the hole in the wall that he had created, but it was too late. Heavy footsteps approached as the already dim light from the hallway was completely blocked. A large head with a metallic flower in its centre stared in through the hole, and the monster quickly pushed its arm through, tearing at the loosened bricks to open the opening so that it could step through as well.


    "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Ryan''s heart pounded heavily. This was a massive mistake. There was nowhere for him to run. It was only a matter of time before the foreman made its way inside.


    "Think, Ryan, think! You finally awakened, there''s no way you''re going to go out at level fucking two!" His teeth were being pressed together so hard that Ryan was almost worried they were about to crack, but the adrenaline being pumped through his veins didn''t let him keep an all too clear mind.


    There was a reason why the core room was protected in every dungeon; it was the only place that a dungeon could be killed, or ''closed'' from. Of course, Ryan had no clue how to do that. It was a complex process where the mana of the space was interfered with in some very particular ways. The DMB had specific task-forces for this, since it was a dangerous process.


    However, there was something that Ryan could do. Every dungeon had a ''heart''. In advanced dungeons, it would often turn into a sort of monster itself, but at this stage, it could only be something in the form of a small object, hiding out somewhere in here. If Ryan could destroy that object, he could at least make the dungeon go to sleep for a while. It wasn''t the same thing, but it was something like a ''temporary closure'', since the dungeon''s mana wasn''t able to spread any further during this process, and monsters would be strongly weakened until the dungeon was able to form a new heart.


    "Maximus, do you have any idea what it could be? You''re the one that wanted to come here in the first place," Ryan pointed out, nervously glancing down at the small knight, who just shook his head in response, even if he was clearly looking around in search of a clue.


    But it was too late. The foreman was pushing its way into the office. However, even when it came inside, different to what Ryan expected, it didn''t attack immediately. Rather, it seemed like the foreman was going to try and catch him.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "So you can''t be too reckless in here either?" he guessed, a slight grin forming on his face. The foreman was extremely large. It seemed to have actually grown in size a bit compared to before. And this office was extremely narrow; if the monster just recklessly attacked him, it was possible that it was going to damage or destroy the dungeon heart on its own. That did make things a little easier.


    Ryan pushed his hand behind him and grabbed the drawer of one of the filing cabinets. He quickly pulled it out and threw it at the monster. As it raised its arm to block the throw, lumps of old paper flinging around, Ryan was able to focus a bit more on the monster''s appearance. It wasn''t just taller, it looked completely different.


    It no longer had those flower buds growing all over its body; instead, they had all blossomed and it was covered in what was basically a field of copper wildflowers. And the core that had grown on its head changed quite a bit as well. The monster''s head had basically been fully replaced by a large flower, its glistening petals protecting it. It had gone a step further, and had become the last monster that had apparently been observed in here.


    On the forums, it had been dubbed the ''Manager''. Honestly, Ryan didn''t care much for the names, especially not right now. If this was really the monster''s next stage, then being just grazed by it could be a death-sentence. Those flowers'' petals were supposed to be extremely sharp, so Ryan could end up in pieces instead of being crushed by a pile of bricks.


    "Maximus, I have an idea, and it might be reckless, but-" Ryan started to say, but the knight was just staring back intensely. Even though he wasn''t actually saying anything, Ryan somehow could tell that Maximus was fine with whatever he had planned.


    As he moved around the room, Ryan pulled another one of Maximus'' weapons off; the pestle. It seemed like the best blunt weapon for restricted spaces, since Maximus would just be able to slam it straight down. He gave it to the knight, and then threw him up toward the flower that had replaced the monster''s head. Luckily Ryan used to play basketball all the time, because the knight descended perfectly within the flower. While the monster was still trying to reach out to Ryan, Maximus clearly started his attack on whatever was contained within those petals. The monster grasped at its head, trying to get Maximus out. But at the same time, this sudden invasion made it a lot more reckless. It moved around, bumping into the shelves and desk, and crushing some of the random objects scattered on the ground under its immense weight.


    Of course, Ryan wasn''t protected from this chaos either. As the monster flailed around, it practically just grazed his shoulder and he was thrown into the cabinets behind him. The air was pushed out of his lungs as his back hit the rusted metal, despite the backpack acting as a buffer. He fell to the ground, struggling to breathe in again.


    But then, Ryan noticed something on the ground. It had fallen out from his jacket''s pocket just now; his phone, the screen illuminating his face. And that was when an idea crossed Ryan''s mind. Without even being able to breathe properly yet, he picked up his phone and shakily navigated to the camera. He reached out for the high-power torch laying nearby on the ground, and held both forward.


    ''Dungeon Air'', or rather, the mana within that air, heavily distorted the images of regular cameras. And that distortion effect became stronger the more concentrated the mana was. And since all of it originated from the dungeon''s heart, it had to be the most dense right around it. Ryan looked around the room, barely able to see anything beyond the heavily-distorted image and the bad lighting. The flailing metallic cyclops in the room didn''t make it any easier either.


    However, just a moment later, Ryan found it. A spot that was far more distorted than any of the others. It was a classic location as well. The painting on the wall, though the canvas itself was heavily damaged already. Ryan forced himself off the ground, though his right arm didn''t let him put any pressure on it. He stumbled over the trash on the ground and moved behind the desk. Ryan tore the painting off the wall, revealing an old, rusted safe. Roots and ivy were growing out through the ajar door. After pulling the safe open, Ryan almost wanted to vomit as a thick wave of mana flowed out of it right into his face. But he pushed through, grabbing the object in the centre. It was an intricate copper brooch depicting a bouquet of wildflowers. His hand burnt as he touched it, despite his gloves, like he was trying to pick up red hot metal. But it was better than dying.


    Ryan dropped the brooch onto the desk. His hammer was somewhere in the rubble, so Ryan pulled the pickaxe off his bag. He felt a searing pain in his right shoulder as he tried, but it was too dark to see what was going on, so he simply pushed through, soon holding the pickaxe tightly in both his hands.


    He raised it high over his head, and without hesitation swung it down at the piece of metal. The moment the pointed tip dug into the metal flowers, a flood of mana once more poured out against Ryan. He felt dizzy and fell to the ground. This time, he couldn''t hold back his nausea and vomited. A system window popped up in front of him, but his sight was too blurry to read what it said on it.


    However, he clearly wasn''t the only one that was affected by the destruction of the dungeon heart. The ''Manager'' monster fell down onto its knees as well. The copper petals that were reflecting the light of Ryan''s torch were practically wilting, until it finally fell forward. Maximus climbed out of the monster''s flower-head, dragging the scratched-up and dented steel pestle behind him. Ryan carefully got off the ground. Right now, the most important thing was to just leave this room. The mana would grow weaker as the dungeon entered hibernation, so they could just wait things out for a little while.


    Carefully, Ryan climbed over the monster''s slowly crumbling body and stepped out of the office. Once he was finally outside in the hallway again, he dropped down onto the ground. The air here was already so much better, and as if that fact triggered something in him, he felt massive, searing pain in his hand and shoulder. He tore the glove off his hand. It was bright red, but not just from the heat that the brooch had produced while practically melting away the glove, but also from a thin layer of blood that was dripping down his arm.


    Glancing over at his shoulder, Ryan saw that his jacket and shirt had been cleanly cut apart, right next to where the armour pads had been placed, and were soaked in a deep red right there as well. Trying to not hurt himself even more, Ryan let his backpack slide off his shoulders, trying to carefully open his jacket. But before he could do it himself, Maximus jumped in, having thrown the pestle to the side, so that he could help Ryan. Luckily, with the knight''s strength, it was an easy job, though Ryan still cramped up a bit in the process. The whole right side of Ryan''s chest was covered in blood, and it was continuing to drip down his arm.


    "The... the flask at the top in my bag, grab it," Ryan stuttered, and Maximus didn''t hesitate for even a moment. He pulled open the backpack and pulled out a thin metal flask, "Also grab the tube there, yeah that one, exactly. And gauzes and-" before Ryan could even finish, the knight had grabbed everything that they were going to need.


    Using his already ruined shirt, Ryan patted off as much of the blood as he could, and then opened the flask, pouring water onto the wound to clean it out. As he dropped the flask to the side, Maximus already approached with a prepared gauze, having spread a layer of the gel in that tube on it. Hesitating for just a moment, Ryan ground his teeth together and pressed the gauze onto his wound. His whole body tensed up as the healing gel was pressed onto the wound. But at least it was supposed to be pretty effective.


    "This shit better work, it cost a fortune..." Ryan clicked his tongue, as he tried to grab the roll of bandages from Maximus, but the knight shook his head. Instead, he just had Ryan hold the end of the bandage while applying the rest himself. It was a bit awkward, but at least it was all properly held together. Now, the special healing gel could just do its job... it would keep bleeding for a little bit, but the wound would quickly close up. He still had to go to the hospital later to get some proper care for this, but it would do for now. The gel was also numbing, so the pain was going to fade away soon, hopefully.


    Now that his shoulder was done, Ryan also got started with his hand, using that same gel on his burnt palm. Luckily it wasn''t as bad as it could have been; the glove did block some of the heat. When he was done, Ryan leaned back against the wall. Maximus was holding a protein bar toward him to get him to eat something, and as he indulged, Ryan finally glanced at the system windows that had popped up.

 12 - Fragment

    Ryan leaned against the wall, biting into the protein bar. He was freaking out too much to look at them earlier, but a few system windows had popped up in front of him.


    <hr>


    [You have temporarily closed the -Abandoned Copper Foundry- Dungeon]


    [You have killed a Level 3 -Dungeon Monster-]


    [You have levelled up!]


    [The -Knight''s Martial Knowledge- Skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    Ryan sighed in relief. It seemed that everything worked properly. Small dungeons like this would take a while to heal from their heart being destroyed, so if Ryan reported this to the Dungeon Management Bureau, they would probably send out some people to permanently close it. Some dungeons were kept up if they could be managed properly or had some kind of benefit. Some dungeons produced structures and dropped items that could be useful for research, or some were safe enough that they could be used to, at least temporarily, protect civilians during emergencies. There was also the rare case where a dungeon was showing levels of sapience and deals could be struck with them, but Ryan only knew about one or two like that in history.


    Whatever the case, that other message was a lot more imminently important. Another level-up. Not his own level, of course, the window was Maximus'' red, so killing that ''Manager'' was enough to justify another level.


    "Hah... I put you together on Tuesday, and you''re already level 3? Good job, little dude," Ryan smiled, holding his left fist toward the small knight. A bit confused, Maximus tilted his head to the side. Ryan laughed slightly, "Just bump my fist with yours."


    Hesitant, Maximus did as Ryan said, carefully hitting Maximus'' fist with his own.


    "Don''t look at me like that, this is a normal thing. Like a... small celebration, you know?" Ryan explained, as he concentrated on Maximus'' status for a second to make the window pop up.


    <hr>


    [Maximus]


    [Knight | Level - 3 (+1)]


    [AP - 27.5 (+4.5)]


    [Stats]


    -[Aura - 0.75 (+0.09)]


    -[Strength - 0.96 (+0.09)]


    -[Stamina 0.84 (+0.07)]


    -[Resistance - 0.94 (+0.08)]


    -[Physicality - 0.87 (+0.06)]


    [Skills]


    -[Knight''s Attack | Level - 4]


    -[Knight''s Guard | Level - 2]


    -[Knight''s Martial Knowledge | Level - 3 (+1)]


    <hr>


    "Damn, at this rate you''ll be way stronger than me soon..." Ryan sighed lightly. Though, at least he could get stronger through training, and it didn''t look like Maximus would be able to do that. That considered, Maximus might end up falling behind in the higher levels.


    Ryan leaned his head against the wall behind him. He could feel the uncomfortable wriggling on his shoulder as the healing gel did its job. He should probably try and wait for a while until he could make sure that the monster''s wouldn''t be a danger anymore before heading back outside.


    ''Should only take like half an hour... I hope,'' he thought. And even if they were still active, their bodies should be weak and crumble with just a single attack from Maximus, especially since he did get a bit stronger now. Though, when Ryan looked at the spirit, he did get a little concerned.


    "...You''re also pretty banged up, right? Are you going to be fine?"


    Maximus looked down at himself, at the dents and scratches covering his armour, but just replied with a single quick nod.


    "If you say so. I''ll take a look later and see if I can at least get rid of the dents later," with a loud groan, Ryan pushed himself off the ground, "But now, let''s just finish your quest already."


    Truthfully, that was what Ryan had hoped to see earlier when looking at those system windows; a message saying something like ''you have completed the quest'', but in the end, it didn''t come yet. That meant that whatever it was that Maximus wanted to find here was still inside of the office. At least, now that the dungeon heart was destroyed, the mana inside of the room should have dissipated at least a little bit. And he could take his time searching through it now as well, so that was a good thing too. Ryan carefully climbed through the hole in the wall. The air in here was still densely filled with mana, but it wasn''t nearly as bad as it was earlier. Either that, or the pain from his shoulder and hand was distracting Ryan enough.


    He walked over to the torch still lying on the ground near the desk, shining it around the room. The first thing that he noticed was that the ''Manager'' was still in the middle of being broken down. There were still parts that you could recognize as a humanoid form, but for the most part, it was just bare metal plates that were crumbling into dust. He took a step closer toward it and squatted down, putting the torch into his mouth as he used his healthy hand to push some of the metal pieces to the side. He was still wearing gloves, so he wasn''t super worried about cutting himself as long as he didn''t shove his hand onto these petals recklessly.


    When he started, Maximus quickly rushed over and started to help, pushing aside the parts of the monster that seemed to be breaking down. Underneath, there were actually a few item drops. Usually, monsters didn''t drop anything when they were killed after a dungeon heart was destroyed, but maybe since it died so quickly after that happened, it still left some things behind.


    Most of the drops were just seeds, again. However, instead of being regular seeds like the ones from before, they were metallic copper seeds at different stages of rust and decay. These especially seemed quite interesting, so Ryan and Maximus quickly gathered them up and put them into the pouch with the others. Once they got everything, Ryan slowly stood up again and continued to look around.


    First, he took a step closer to the desk, "Do you still not know what we''re looking for?" Ryan wondered, looking over as the knight jumped up onto the table. However, he didn''t respond, and slowly approached the hole in the desk that had been created when Ryan swung the pickaxe into it to destroy the brooch. The pickaxe itself had fallen onto the ground, but the remnants of the brooch still seemed to be there, slowly crumbling apart.


    But as Ryan shone the light onto it, a small glimmer of green was reflected back at him, "Maximus."


    The knight nodded his head. He had been aiming for the brooch in the first place. Ryan watched as Maximus pushed aside the metal pieces leftover from the brooch. He seemed to be basically pulling a layer of metal off something; a small green gemstone. The hair on Ryan''s neck stood up as he leaned forward.


    "Wait, is that what I think it is? This is why we came here?" unable to hide his puzzled expression, Ryan watched as Maximus took out the small Spirit Core from the crumbling metal shell.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    How did Maximus know that this was here? Or rather, why the hell was this here in the first place? Were spirits somehow related to dungeons, or was this a special case? Ryan showed Maximus some videos of other dungeons beside this one, and he didn''t seem to react at all. This just didn''t make sense... Why was the same thing that Ryan had found in his dead father''s stuff inside of a Dungeon Heart?


    But seeing Maximus stand there, with that gemstone in his hands, Ryan realized that it didn''t even matter right now. Maximus was... sad. And that was when Ryan realized. This core wasn''t just a lot smaller than Maximus'', it was fractured. This was just a piece of a full core. Maximus solemnly held the fragment up to his forehead, for just a few moments, and then looked back at Ryan. He gave a single quick nod.


    <hr>


    [You have Completed the Quest -Abandoned Copper Foundry Investigation-]


    <hr>


    Ryan was happy that he completed the Quest, but he couldn''t help but feel a bit weird about it all. Especially after seeing how Maximus was acting, he wasn''t able to just be happy right now. As he stood there, thinking, another message appeared in front of him.


    <hr>


    [You have attained a new Expansion kit for the Maximus Series - Crusader Model]


    <hr>


    With a raised brow, Ryan looked at the message, and soon felt something form in the back of his mind, as if a memory was being pushed into his head from outside. It was similar to how he saw Maximus'' domain, just that it was instead a small cardboard box like the one that Maximus'' original pieces appeared in. But he would take a look at that later, as the small knight was holding the spirit core''s fragment toward him. Nervous, Ryan put the torch back into his mouth, and held his hand forward.


    The Spirit dropped the fragment onto his palm, and shivers ran over his body like when he first held Maximus'' core. A dim light shone through the gemstone, but it wasn''t nearly as strong as what Ryan had seen before. It was weak, as though whatever was inside of it was just barely holding on.


    <hr>


    [You have found a Fragment of Gaia (1/3)]


    [You have become the Keeper of the Garden Golem Spirit Gaia]


    [A new domain has become available]


    <hr>


    Ryan watched as the fragment of the gemstone fell apart into green threads that burrowed into his palm, flowing through his veins. Once more, Ryan could feel something expand in the back of his mind. It was a new domain, but it was nothing but a blank white space. The fragment carefully floated in its centre.


    "...Is this what this class is?" Ryan asked, glancing past the system windows at Maximus, "I kind of figured, but... I''m supposed to help and guide and... protect you guys?"


    While he seemed a bit hesitant, it didn''t take long until Maximus nodded his head. With a long sigh, Ryan looked up at the ceiling. It wasn''t quite what he had expected, but just looking at it from that point of view, he did understand why this had become his class. He had always wanted to help and protect others somehow. First his mom, then his friends. Then other kids at school, and then complete strangers that he saw out on the street. And if this is how that desire manifested... Ryan really didn''t mind.


    "Alright... So... Gaia then, huh? And a Garden Golem Spirit? I guess I can see the connection... with the monsters in here made from stone and all. They were basically a kind of Golem, but what the hell is a ''Garden Golem''?" Ryan muttered, puzzled, "Do you have any idea where the other two fragments are?"


    Maximus quickly shook his head, and Ryan started tapping his foot on the ground, "Alright, I''ll look into it. You should be able to tell if we''re onto something, right?"


    After the quick nod, Ryan smiled and started walking back out of the office. Now that this was dealt with, there was no reason to stay in there. Of course, Maximus quickly followed behind as well. However, as the two were walking back out into the hallway, Ryan could feel his body be surrounded by that thin cloud of glowing dust. He did just find another spirit, so that made sense.


    <hr>


    [The -Spirit Domain- Skill has levelled up]


    [You have levelled up!]


    <hr>


    Ryan stared at the system windows. Levelling up a skill was one thing, but... levelling up himself? Again? Twice in a day? Sure, he was just level three, but it still felt... fast.


    "Holy fucking-" Ryan let out involuntarily, as he immediately pulled up his status window.


    <hr>


    [Ryan Aglecard] [Age - 19]


    [Spirit Keeper | Level - 3 (+1)]


    [MP - 23.5 (+2.5)]


    [Stats]


    -[Dexterity - 1.23 (+0.06)]


    -[Intuition - 1.2 (+0.1)]


    -[Mana - 0.67 (+0.05)]


    -[Sociability - 1.15 (+0.09)]


    -[Spirituality 0.61 (+0.06)]


    [Skills]


    -[Spirit Construction | Level - 3]


    -[Spirit Domain | Level - 2 (+1)]


    -[Spirit Link | Level - 3]


    <hr>


    A broad grin appeared on Ryan''s face as he saw the stat improvements. Sure, his Mana and Spirituality were still super low, but his Dexterity, Intuition, and Sociability were rising particularly quickly. The increase in sociability was actually particularly nice, since the higher that stat was, the easier it should be for him to communicate with Maximus, as well as Gaia once Ryan found the other two fragments.


    The effects for the Intuition stat were the most unclear to Ryan so far though; it was often described as a sort of ''sixth sense'', but Ryan didn''t really know what that was supposed to mean. Every stat presented itself slightly different in different people. Less so in physical stats like Strength, for example, but even so, some people felt the stat affect their arms more than their legs, or vice versa. And for mental stats, that kind of thing was far more common, so Ryan had no idea what kind of change he had to expect. Though, it wasn''t anything that Ryan would mind, he just had no idea why it increased the most out of all his other stats. Stat increases weren''t technically completely random, after all.


    But well, Ryan could try and figure all that out once he left the dungeon, anyway. Modak and Silvia won''t believe it when he tells them that he''s already level 3, and he was more than excited to see their expression.


    "Though, they might get a bit mad as well..." Ryan pointed out with a nervous sigh, looking down at his clothes. His shirt was completely ruined now, since he used it to wipe away his blood, but the jacket still seemed fine for now. Despite the large slit in the shoulder, it was better than walking around without anything on, especially since he didn''t really want anyone to see his back.


    Carefully, Ryan picked up the jacket and pushed his arm through, clenching his teeth as the weight settled on his shoulder. He then squatted down and put as much of the items attached to that jacket into his backpack, and attached the hammer and pickaxe to it again too, throwing it all over his healthy shoulder.


    "Let''s go," Ryan started walking and Maximus quickly followed. Actually, he was walking ahead so that he could take care of any monsters that might still be walking around. Ryan was navigating with the map on his phone, and since there was less of a need to be quiet than before, it didn''t take long until the pair made their way out of the dungeon. Seeing the rainbow hue of the barrier above him was a massive relief, and he was barely able to stop his hand from shaking as he held his Awakened License against the scanner, watching as the reinforced gate opened up.


    Ryan stepped out into the road in front of the dungeon. Usually, the air in this part of town would never be something he happily breathed in, but compared to the mana-filled dungeon air, it was almost like being back home.


    Immediately, Ryan dropped onto the low, knee-height brick wall at the edge of the road. Maximus jumped up next to him, as Ryan let out a long sigh of relief.


    "That was way, way too close for comfort. Next time, we''ll prepare longer than a few days... alright?" Ryan suggested, looking over at Maximus as he pulled his phone back out. He quickly dialled a number that he saved in his phone just the other day, holding the phone to his ear. It only took two rings for someone to respond.


    "This is Aurora Carlyle speaking. How can I help you, mister Aglecard?" the chirped voice asked from the other side of the speaker, and Ryan quickly explained the situation.


    "Yeah, so, I went to my first dungeon today, and I have a few things to report. You told me that I should call you for that, right?"


    "Yes, of course. The Awakened Centre and the Dungeon Management Bureau are part of the same larger organization, so I am your go-to person for every Awakened matter. Was there any trouble in the dungeon?" Aurora asked, and Ryan could hear some typing in the background of the call.


    "No, nothing like that... well, actually, kind of I guess? Long story short, I found the core room and ended up destroying the dungeon heart. The dungeon was marked for closure, so I figured I should let you guys know so that you can make that happen?" he quickly explained, as the typing on the other side of the call disappeared.


    "...Are you positive that you destroyed the dungeon heart?"


    "Yep, I got the notification and everything," Ryan replied, "On the way back outside, it seemed like most of the monsters were already too weak to even move, so I guess it''s the best time to make it all happen."


    "Mister Aglecard, did you bring any anti-mana measures with you to the dungeon?"


    "Uhm... no? Not really... is there a problem?"


    "It was the ''Abandoned Copper Foundry'' dungeon, correct? I will be requesting the DMB''s assistance immediately, they should send out a response and first aid team shortly. You only just left the dungeon a minute ago, correct? Please stay nearby and try to avoid moving too much. I will keep you updated on the arrival time of the response team."


    Ryan looked at the dungeon''s entrance with a light sigh. Maybe he did have a reason to be worried after all.

 13 - Emergency Care

    Ryan kept his eyes closed for a while, just taking in the ''fresh'' air of this industrial neighbourhood. But his serene peace was then interrupted by the sound of screeching tires as a number of cars pulled around the corner, stopping right in front of the dungeon''s entrance. A person quickly jumped out from one of the cars; Aurora.


    She rushed over toward Ryan and looked him up and down, "Mister Aglecard, are you alright? Are you feeling dizzy? Nauseous?"


    "I''m fine, I felt a bit sick earlier but now that I''m back outside, it''s all good," Ryan tried to stand up to properly greet her, but he was pushed down by the man that followed her.


    "Just in case, stay still," he said, taking out a small light out of his pocket and shining it into his eyes, "Follow the light, please."


    Ryan was confused, but he did as told. While he was doing so, someone else came up to him, grabbing his wrist. They slapped a thin metal bracelet onto it and started typing something on a tablet. The man, seemingly a paramedic even if his clothes didn''t match the part, glanced at Ryan''s right hand, "What happened? Are you injured?"


    Somewhat awkwardly, Ryan nodded his head, "Yeah, I did get hurt in there, hold on," he replied, slowly slipping his jacket off his right shoulder. He looked around nervously to make sure nobody was behind him first, though, and tried to keep the jacket hanging over him as much as he could, "My shoulder was cut by a monster inside, the ''Manager'', or something. The metal on its body was super sharp, so it was a clean cut, at least. I used some healing gel on the gauze, and the bleeding stopped. I also ended up... touching the Dungeon Heart, and it gave off this ridiculous heat, but only once I touched it. Used that same gel on my palm. The tube is in my backpack, I can take it out for you if you want."


    The paramedic glanced over at Aurora, "Didn''t you say he awakened just the other day?"


    "...Yes, only last Tuesday. Mister Aglecard, you say you faced a ''Manager''?"


    Ryan nodded. He was going to need to report this all to the DMB in a bit anyway. The response team was seemingly getting ready to head inside, just waiting for the paramedic to be done with Ryan so that they could talk to him. Though, seeing that Ryan was about to explain the situation more closely, Aurora called over the person leading the response team; a gnomish woman carrying an intricately crafted cane. She didn''t seem to need it to walk, so she was probably a mage.


    And so, Ryan quickly started to retell everything that he had done in the dungeon, including how he saw the foremen being created, the drops he got, and how he made his way into the offices, "And then, I broke the Dungeon Heart with the pickaxe, and a bunch of mana was shot into my face. I felt sick for a bit, but when I left the core room, I was alright again."


    The gnome, holding a voice recorder toward Ryan, frowned lightly, "I see, and why exactly did you search out the core room again?"


    "I didn''t directly look for the core room, I just remembered that the office wasn''t found anywhere yet, and then I found that weird space on the map. I thought it would be an... I don''t know, like a puzzle or treasure room or something. And I know that you get a good chunk of money for that kind of information, so I figured why not check it out? If I had known it was straight up the core room, I wouldn''t have done that. There''s a lot easier ways to commit suicide," Ryan scoffed, slowly shaking his head. Though, seeing the faces of the people in front of him, it seemed like he was the only one who found that funny, "Uhm... sorry."


    Ryan wasn''t totally lying either. Obviously he didn''t expect it to be the core room, and he wouldn''t have gone in there as recklessly if he had known. But he didn''t really care that much about the money that came with finding spaces like that, though it was an incentive that didn''t necessarily prevent him from looking for that space either. He just didn''t feel like explaining the quest, nor did he want to explain that there was a fractured Spirit Core inside of the Dungeon Heart either. Worst-case, they might try to take Gaia from him, and that was a risk he wasn''t willing to take.


    "I see. Well, you certainly earned yourself quite the reward now. Since you told us right away, we should be able to close the dungeon permanently soon, so you should get a hefty sum from that. We''ll let you know through Miss Carlyle. Do you remember the location of the Core Room?" the gnome woman asked, holding a tablet in front of Ryan. It was a seemingly more detailed map of the dungeon than what was on the awakened forums, though it of course still marked the core room as an empty space.


    Ryan quickly nodded, tapping at the location, "It''s right here, should be easy enough to find. The route wasn''t that complicated. Took me like twenty-ish minutes to get out?"


    "Perfect. Thank you for the assistance, Mister Aglecard. We''ll be headed right in," the gnome nodded satisfied and turned around without another word.


    Before she could fully leave, Aurora turned to the gnome, "Thanks for coming so quickly, Melanie."


    "...Don''t mention it," she replied, quickly heading back over to her team. Overhearing the short exchange, Ryan stared at the paramedic that was still checking on him, now holding the tablet that his colleague had connected to that thin wristband they slapped onto him.


    "Wait, was that Melanie Rodriguez?" Ryan stared at the gnome''s back in disbelief, and the paramedic scoffed with a nod.


    "That''s her, alright. Why, you know her?"


    "You kidding? Of course I know about her, who doesn''t? She''s like... the Terramancer, you know? Man, I would''ve asked her for an autograph if I''d known... Though that''s probably a bit awkward when you''re in the middle of work, right?" Dejected, Ryan watched as Melanie and her team entered the dungeon''s barrier, completely getting rid of his chance. Seeing his expression, the paramedic just let out a laugh.


    "Seriously? For someone who should have severe mana poisoning, you''re pretty energetic."


    "...Mana poisoning? Isn''t that, like... really serious?"


    "It sure as hell is, but you seem pretty fine... guess you got pretty lucky, huh? I mean, sure, you''ve got extremely elevated mana right now. If you were a bit higher levelled I''d have suggested you purge it somehow, but I doubt it even shows up in your status. It''s all in your muscles and blood right now, and basically fully avoided your magic circuits," the paramedic explained, "Though... your SvMax levels are a bit high too... I''m guessing you levelled up in there?"


    "Ah, yeah, twice actually. Got pretty lucky, I guess," Ryan explained. While it was something to brag about, now that he was actually in a situation where that was a choice, he did feel a bit too awkward about it.


    Aurora, overhearing this, stepped closer again, "You levelled up twice? In your first week? That is quite impressive, Mister Aglecard. Congratulations!"


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Thanks, I''m pretty-" as Ryan spoke, he once more heard the sound of screeching tires. But this time, accompanied by another sound that he recognized quite well. The confused voice of his uncle.


    "Ryan? Ryan! What the hell is going on?" Runar yelled out, barely remembering to park his rundown old car before jumping out of it as he came sprinting over. Aurora tried to block him, but seeing Ryan''s expression, she decided to let him through.


    "''Sup, Runar. Some... stuff happened," Ryan said with a nervous smile. He could see how concerned his uncle was, so he felt pretty bad. He had already closed the shop today so that he could stay here to wait for him.


    "I barely went out to grab some food for thirty minutes, get a call from you that you''re back outside, and I come back to this? What the hell is- Wait, is that blood? Are you hurt? Do I need to call an ambulance?" Runar''s gaze darted around the area, but he clearly didn''t take all too much information in yet.


    The paramedic currently taking a look at Ryan scoffed quietly, "The ambulance is here already. Don''t worry, he''s... well, he''s not fine, directly, but way better than he should be, all things considered."


    Runar stared at his nephew with a deep glare, forcing Ryan to turn his head away nervously, "Godsdammit, don''t scare me like that... So he''s going to be fine?" Runar asked, carefully stepping behind Ryan, placing his hand onto his left shoulder. His hand was shaking, almost as much as Ryan''s own.


    The paramedic nodded, "Yeah, I''d say so," he said, starting to carefully unwrap the bandages around Ryan''s shoulder and hand, "We were mostly worried about his mana-exposure, and he still needs to keep it low for a while, but he''ll be fine. Otherwise, there''s his shoulder, but it doesn''t seem to be that-"


    As the paramedic pulled away the gauze, he froze up for a moment. He stared at the wound on Ryan''s shoulder, which had only barely stopped bleeding, and involuntarily responded.


    "What the fu- How the hell are you this calm right now? Aren''t you in pain?"


    Ryan shrugged, or at least he would have, if his shoulder wasn''t as numb as it was, "Obviously, but what am I supposed to do? Cry about it? In public? Fuck no. Way too sober for that."


    "...Are you sure about that? Are you on any pain meds? Alcohol? Drugs?"


    "You''ve got a full list of everything in my body there, right? You know I''m not," Ryan replied, and the paramedic slowly turned toward his colleague, locking eyes with them for a moment.


    "Alright, well... in that case, you''re a hell of a man," he laughed, carefully rubbing his hands together while stretching his neck, "Now, this isn''t going to hurt, but it might be a bit uncomfortable so to avoid any movement I''ll be numbing your shoulder anyway, alright?"


    After Ryan approved, the paramedic held his hand over the wound. Ryan felt a slight wave of warmth cover his shoulder, before an immediate numbness came over his whole arm as is slumped down a bit. And then, the paramedic got to work. A slightly translucent white needle appeared in his fingers that he pressed into Ryan''s skin, pulling a similarly translucent thread behind it. This was a ''Medic'' skill. Ryan didn''t know what he expected, but it definitely wasn''t to be treated by an awakened paramedic outside of a dungeon.


    The whole time this was happening, Runar kept standing behind Ryan, as if covering his back from DMB employees that were walking around him. And of course, Maximus was inside of his domain during all of this. He had gone inside once the first cars arrived, by Ryan''s request.


    "All done," the paramedic said with a smile, as the needle from his skill disappeared, "Your shoulder will stay numb for a while, and I''ll send a prescription to your insurance card for painkillers. Basically, if you''re in pain, take one, but at most two a day, at least 6 hours apart. Keep applying that healing gel with bandages every day, and swap out the bandages every morning until the wound looks decently healed. And obviously, don''t overdo it, alright?"


    "Of course. You said I''m supposed to come up for a check-up in a couple days?" Ryan quickly asked, as the paramedic applied a fresh bandage to his shoulder.


    "Just come to the Awakened Centre''s medical office during regular business hours at the start of next week, I''ll usually be there."


    "Alright, I''ll-"


    "I''ll be driving you there next week," Runar said from behind Ryan. Now that he saw that Ryan was doing a bit better, Runar''s grip on his nephew''s shoulder was growing quite a bit stronger.


    "...Right, thanks. What about my hand? How''s that doing?"


    The paramedic glanced down at Ryan''s palm, "Honestly, that''s not looking so bad, probably hurts like a bitch, though. Just keep your palm wrapped up with healing gel for the weekend. Once the redness is gone and it stops hurting, you''re fine."


    As the other paramedic quickly took the wristband back off Ryan''s arm, Aurora stepped back up toward him, nervously hooting, "Mister Aglecard, in the future, please do be more careful. We at the Awakened Centre have high hopes for you. And even if it all somehow worked out today, it could have very easily gone very badly."


    Noticing the squeeze in his left shoulder, Ryan carefully nodded, "I know, I''ll be taking it a bit more slow, I think. Might do a bit of training for the time being."


    The paramedic raised his brow, "Did you not hear what I said about taking it easy?"


    "I''m a magical class, I''m not gonna be doing anything that hurts my shoulder."


    "Yeah, but you also very barely avoided severe mana poisoning, so seriously, just take it slow. Read a bit or something, but don''t do any major mana exercises for now."


    Ryan sighed lightly. Though that did make things a bit more annoying, realistically he wouldn''t be able to do any of those ''major mana exercises'' anytime soon anyway. He''d have to head to the university library and read up on some magic theory for now. For now, though, he just put his jacket back on properly, and reached out to his backpack, which was snatched up by Runar before he could grab it.


    Still trying to avoid his uncle''s stare, Ryan turned back to Aurora and the paramedic, "Is there anything else right now? I''d like to go home and just rest a bit."


    Aurora slowly shook her head, "We will keep you updated on the progress of the dungeon closure. If the DMB has any more questions, you might have to go to them sometime next week, but this case actually seems pretty straightforward. So yes, please go ahead, rest and heal up, Mister Aglecard."


    "...Ryan is fine, by the way," he replied, feeling awkward about constantly being called ''Mister Aglecard''. It felt so stiff and formal and he didn''t like it at all.


    Aurora hooted quietly, "Then, Ryan, have a good weekend and take care of yourself well."


    "I will. Thanks," Ryan smiled and stood up, following his uncle to his car. After dropping into the passenger seat, Ryan leaned back into the cushions and let out a long, deep groan.


    "You better shut your mouth," as he slammed the door shut behind himself, Runar practically growled at his nephew, "What the fuck were you thinking? You promised me you''d try to be safe, and what, you ended up destroying a dungeon heart?"


    "I just-"


    "Are you seriously in that much need of money? Did you get caught up with the wrong crowd? Is someone extorting you or-"


    "No, dude, calm down," Ryan interrupted his uncle when he could finally get a word in, but he really didn''t know what to say, "...I can trust you, right? Even if you acted like a fucking maniac when I told you I awakened?"


    "M-Maniac?" Runar stuttered out, "I was just surprised, that''s all... But yes, of course you can trust me. It''s just... you''re my family, Ryan. Every time I look at you, I see your father when we were growing up. I''m scared something is going to happen to you too, so I don''t want you to get caught up in this whole mess. I adore you, man... seeing you like this breaks my heart, seriously."


    Ryan sat there in silence for a few moments. He really didn''t know what he was supposed to say to that. As the car started rumbling, Runar started driving down the road. No matter how weird Ryan felt about how Runar reacted, he still trusted him probably more than anyone in the world. Runar had always been there for him and his mom, even after his father died, and throughout every bad choice they made afterward. Even when Ryan did briefly get caught up with the wrong crowd in school, Runar was the one that helped him through it all.


    "...Maximus gave me a quest to go to the Dungeon," Ryan explained, and Runar turned to him, startled.


    "What? Why would he..."


    "I guess he sensed that something, or someone, was in there. When I destroyed the dungeon heart, I found something inside of it, another spirit core, but it was fractured. It belongs to this spirit called Gaia."

 14 - A Night Out

    Ryan stepped into his room, his wet hair clinging to his back. He stepped up to the mirror, taking a closer look at his shoulder. It did look pretty gnarly. Though the healing gel suppressed the swelling, it was still pretty red. But the stitches looked quite nice, so it at least wouldn''t leave an ugly scar. Ryan had enough of those anyway, so he would prefer if he didn''t get too many more.


    He sat down on his chair and took the gauzes and healing gel that he had laid on his desk earlier, quickly applying a fresh bandage to his shoulder and palm, before tapping his finger on the desk, "...I can just take a look, right? Doesn''t mean I have to build it, right?" Ryan said, inwardly looking at Maximus, who was enjoying his newly enlarged domain. After it levelled up, it seemed to have expanded about a quarter of a meter in every direction. Not a massive amount, but still noticeable overall.


    Realizing what Ryan was talking about, Maximus stepped out from the domain, his body quickly forming from red wisps of mana. Standing on the desk, he stared up at Ryan.


    "Don''t look at me like that, I''m fine, seriously. And again, just looking at it doesn''t mean I have to build it," Ryan pointed out, and though Maximus kept staring, he was quickly ignored.


    Ryan held forward his hand, and red wisps of light flowed out from his fingertips, forming a small cardboard box. On its front, it said ''Maximus Series - Crusader Model - Right Arm'', and, as it said, a right arm was displayed on the front. Though it was still made from the same materials as Maximus'' body, it did look a bit different. Bulkier.


    Ryan grabbed his exacto knife, carefully cutting the cardboard box open before pulling out the frames. Just like before, there were some metal frames, one red and one that grey steel colour, as well as a sheet of leather and a frame made of wood that held those roots that grew all over Maximus'' body. Once he took them all out, the cardboard box fell apart into mana again.


    "This really isn''t that much..." Ryan pointed out, glancing over at Maximus, "I mean, I wouldn''t need to use my right hand all too much..."


    Maximus continued to stare up at Ryan intensely.


    "...And the skill uses so little mana it barely counts, right?"


    The knight slowly shook his head, as if disappointed by Ryan''s logic.


    "Oh come on, you know you want me to build this too, so just be quiet," Ryan immediately reached out to the wooden box on his table, quickly opening it up to pull out those special clippers. Without even glancing at Maximus again, Ryan activated his ''Spirit Construction'' skill as the patterns on the clippers lit up. He didn''t even hesitate and started to get to work, quickly removing the individual pieces from the frames and putting them into one of his small kit-sorting boxes. Similarly to how he had done it when Silvia and Modak were here, he was going to cut out all the pieces as quickly as he could, sort and align them during the cooldown, and then start putting them together during the next activation period.


    But as he moved his fingers around, even though he was using his left hand, he managed to do it all insanely fast, at least what he was used to. He''s been building these models since he was a kid, so it was easy for him to tell the sudden difference.


    "Dexterity sure is useful, huh?" Ryan grinned lightly. Frankly, even if it just helped him with his hobby, it still was exhilarating to see himself grow and change. Literally just this morning, he wouldn''t have been able to do any of this.


    And due to how fast he ended up being at taking the pieces out of the frames, he was able to already start some trial and error by pressing some of the pieces together. He actually got surprisingly far when his skill''s effect ended. After the cooldown, he was able to continue putting everything together, and it didn''t take long until the full limb was done.


    "Alright, I''ve got two more minutes on my skill''s effect... Maximus, come here," Ryan said excitedly, and Maximus carefully stepped toward him. At this point, since he knew that Ryan was going to do whatever he wanted anyway, Maximus didn''t hold back either. Clearly, he wanted to give the new arm a try as well.


    Ryan carefully grabbed Maximus'' shoulder, and the limb popped out with ease. Maximus stood there, now missing an arm. It was a bit creepy, but Ryan had no right to complain, anyway. He quickly took the new arm and pressed it against the knight''s shoulder, and it attached itself immediately.


    Maximus stretched out his fingers and twisted his arm around a bit. While it was the same length as before, it just had a ton of bulk to it . In general, while it still had the same overall style, the different plates were more angular.


    "So... what does that do now?" Ryan wondered curiously, and prompted by Maximus, the knight''s status window appeared.


    <hr>


    [Maximus]


    [Knight | Level - 3]


    [AP - 28 (+0.5)]


    [Stats]


    -[Aura - 0.76 (+0.1)]


    -[Strength - 0.99 (+0.03)]


    -[Stamina 0.85 (+0.01)]


    -[Resistance - 0.92 (-0.02)]


    -[Physicality - 0.87]


    [Skills]


    -[Knight''s Attack | Level - 4]


    -[Knight''s Guard | Level - 2]


    -[Knight''s Martial Knowledge | Level - 3]


    <hr>


    "Oh! Wow, that''s... huh," Ryan muttered quietly, "It''s... better than before. I mean, you''ve got less resistance, but you''ve got more Aura, Strength, and Stamina in exchange. Not massively different yet, but... if you use the full Crusader model, it would be worth a lot, right? I guess it might make up for the fact you can''t train, but..."


    After a bit of thought, Ryan leaned backward in his chair. He didn''t know why, but his gut was telling him something.


    "Could it be that one of my skills will let me strengthen you otherwise? Like, I could upgrade your stats or something," Ryan suggested, just saying it into the room. Maximus didn''t seem to react to it all that much, but Ryan felt something a little off about the way that he was staring up at him.


    But before he was able to think about it any more, Ryan''s phone rang.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "You sure you''re allowed to drink? Aren''t you on pain killers?" Modak asked nervously, his eyes darting around the table.


    "I''m not on pain killers... Just didn''t take them today," Ryan replied with a grin, holding up his beer into the middle of the table, "Come on, man, my wallet''s 5000 Gild overweight, help me out here!"


    "Cheers to that," Silvia replied, clinking her glass against Ryan''s before the two looked at the orc sitting next to them. A bit hesitant, Modak held up his glass, clinking it against his friends'', before the three of them each took a large swig.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Oh gods, that''s so good," Ryan smiled broadly, staring at the foam in his glass.


    Silvia let out a loud scoff, "You sound like you haven''t had a drink in years. We were here literally two weeks ago."


    "Yes, two horrible, horrible weeks."


    "So... how''re you doing? I know you''ve been keeping us updated, but you literally didn''t leave your place since you got back from the dungeon," Modak pointed out, concerned.


    "That''s totally not true! I''ve been on the balcony."


    "Which counts as your place," Silvia added, "And you were only out there to plan out that planter you ordered, right?"


    "Well sure, but still. Fresh air," with a smile, Ryan started tapping his finger on the table, "I''ve just been looking into a lot of stuff. Mostly, general mana theory for toddlers. Also been trying to look into any possible dungeons I could."


    Modak and Silvia looked at each other for a moment, "You''re not seriously planning on going to another one, right?"


    "I mean, at some point, but not right away, no."


    "Dude, are you insane?" the orc let out, puzzled by his friend''s words. Ryan had nearly just died not even a week ago, and he was already talking about going to another dungeon? But Ryan didn''t seem to be joking about it either.


    "Dungeons are the only clue I''ve got right now, alright? I''ve got to keep looking for ''that'', so I''ve got no choice," Ryan explained. Obviously, he was scared of going back to dungeons right away too, but he just didn''t know what else he should do. What if the rest of Gaia''s fragments were stuck in other places, and someone else came along and closed the dungeon? He couldn''t just walk up to that person and ask for the thing that dropped from the dungeon heart, only an insane person would do that.


    Silvia started resting her chin on her palm, "So Maximus doesn''t have any other ideas either? He knew that something was up with that dungeon, so wouldn''t he know other things?"


    "He doesn''t know either, no. He said he basically just knew that something was in there, but he didn''t know it was ''that''. So he doesn''t know where the rest is. But he figures he''ll know when we get to it."


    "He said that? Seriously? I thought he''s mute or something, but he told you that?"


    "No, obviously he didn''t speak. It''s just through ''yes or no'' questions," Ryan pointed out, sighing deeply as he leaned back in his chair, "But seriously, can we not talk about this stuff? At least not in the middle of a fuckin'' pub. We''re here to celebrate and have a good time, alright? Speaking of, how was the club on Saturday?"


    Silvia slightly flinched at the mention, as a broad grin formed on Modak''s face, "Oh it was fun, alright. For some of us more than for others."


    Picking up on the vibe that his friends were giving off, Ryan immediately stared at Silvia, "Did you...?"


    "...Yes."


    "With that changeling girl?"


    "Yes."


    "Looks like we''ve got more to celebrate than I thought," Ryan laughed as he took another swig of his beer, but Silvia was ready to protest.


    She glared at her friends, mostly Modak, "It wasn''t anything special, just a kiss... we got along well, but I don''t know if there''s anything there... we were both pretty drunk."


    "Oh come on, how could she not like you? You''re amazing," though he was sad that he wasn''t able to be there to witness this in person, Ryan wanted to be supportive without showing his FOMO too much.


    "...Well, but she''s... she''s just so cool, you know? She''s saving up money right now with her friends to found an art collective, and they''re doing this exhibit, and they''re renting the old train station for it! Isn''t that sick? And she''s got those super cool patterns and tattoos on her arm that she designed herself and they''re literally moving and dancing around, and just..." burying her face in her hands completely now, Silvia let out a loud groan, but Ryan couldn''t help himself but laugh.


    "Silvia, don''t you have like a yearly exhibit literally in the middle of the Easel?" Ryan asked, and Modak nodded his head immediately.


    "Yeah, my school took a trip to one of them before because they heard someone our age made everything there. Like, come on, now."


    "But that''s... different," Silvia protested quietly, only slightly looking up from behind her hands, "My dad used to have a bunch of clients from the Channel, so that was the only reason I got in there."


    "I''m not sure that''s..." Ryan wasn''t sure what to say. Frankly, he had no idea about how that sort of art culture really worked. The only ''gallery'' in his hometown was the small section in the corner of the public library, and those paintings were made by kindergarten and elementary school kids. He hadn''t even been to a museum before Silvia started dragging him and Modak to them after they all met.


    But Modak seemed to have an idea, at least, "Well, we can ask Fae herself what she thinks."


    "What-"


    Modak raised his hand up and waved toward the door. Silvia immediately snapped her whole body around, and after seeing the Changeling in question currently stepping into the pub with her friends, she turned back around and tried to hide herself in her own shadow, "Oh no, oh no..."


    However, to Silvia''s dismay, it seemed that Modak was able to get Fae''s attention. She excused herself from her friends and quickly stepped over. Ryan and Modak quickly stood up and greeted her with a hug. Silvia, though reluctant and nervous, also stood up to say hello.


    "How''re you doing?" Modak asked, "I didn''t know you guys come here too."


    Fae smiled broadly with a quick nod, "Yeah, we usually go to this other pub a bit further out, but Kit was told about the Sunken Ship so we decided to come here tonight," she explained, as Ryan pulled up another chair from an empty table and added it to their own, as they all sat back down.


    "Good choice, this is our go-to. My uncle told me about it, we live like five minutes down the road," Ryan explained, unable to stop himself from glancing down at Fae''s arms to see what Silvia was talking about. On her quite literally paper-white skin, splotches of bright colours were moving around. It looked like when you dropped paint into water, just vibrant clouds that seemed to respond to touch, lingering around her bracelet and rings, all originating somewhere under her clothes and just flooding out toward her hands.


    "Oh? You live nearby? It''s such a nice neighbourhood, all the old buildings here," Fae replied surprised, and Ryan nodded his head, almost with pride.


    "Yeah, I live above Caf¨¦ Runic, I''m not sure if you know it. My uncle owns it, and I just moved in with him when I started uni."


    "I think I''ve walked by there a couple times, I''ll come drop in next time!"


    "Please do! He doesn''t look like much, but my uncle makes amazing coffee. Don''t tell him I said that."


    As Fae and Ryan were talking, Silvia and Modak were having their own silent conversation. While Modak was trying to urge the elven girl in front of him to talk to Fae, Silvia was clearly nervous and doing whatever she could to avoid it. But in the end, she wasn''t able to beat Modak and his deep, deep stare.


    "Do you, uhm... want anything to drink?" Silvia asked, awkwardly holding her glass in Fae''s direction. The changeling looked at her with a broad, excited smile, but slowly shook her head.


    "I think the others are ordering some for me already. And I''m not really a big fan of dark beer," she explained, and Modak let out a loud scoff.


    "Shouldn''t have said that one in front of Ryan."


    "No, no, it''s all good. I''m in a good mood, plus I owe her for not showing up to the club on Saturday, so I''ll let it pass just this once," Ryan sighed loudly, not hiding his playful disappointment in Fae.


    Now that it was finally brought up, as though she had been waiting for it, Fae quickly turned to Ryan, "Right, so... why didn''t you come on Saturday? Are clubs not your vibe?"


    "Oh, it''s not that. I mean, I guess I do prefer a pub, but we do go out to clubs sometimes. But no I just wasn''t able to come, I hurt my shoulder pretty badly."


    Fae glanced at Ryan''s right shoulder that he had just pointed at, "Awe, I''m sorry... are you feeling better now? What happened?"


    "I''m a bit better yeah. And well... it''s a bit complicated, but..."


    "He was pummelled by a Dungeon Monster," Silvia explained, seeing that Ryan was tripping over his words. Plus, she wanted to somehow integrate herself into the conversation anyway.


    "Wait, what?" Fae asked, confused. She looked back and forth between Ryan and Silvia, unsure what to say.


    Ryan sighed deeply, starting to explain, "I awakened recently, so on Friday, I went to a Dungeon, and it didn''t end amazingly."


    "I mean, it ended alright, all things considered," Modak pointed out, "He was level one when he went in, destroyed a dungeon heart which led to the full closure, levelled up two whole times, and only came out with a burn on his hand and a cut on his shoulder."


    "...When you say it that way, I guess it did end pretty good."


    Silvia threw a deep glare at Ryan after hearing the tone of his voice, "Seriously, don''t you dare. Just let your shoulder heal."


    Fae laughed slightly, "Isn''t it fine? Don''t physical Awakened heal pretty quickly anyway?"


    Immediately, Silvia and Modak let out quiet laughs, as the orc looked at their friend with a grin, "Yep, physical Awakened definitely do."


    Confused at what they were laughing about, Fae glanced around the table, looking at Ryan for context. He just let out a long, deep sigh, "I''m a magic type."

 15 - The Library

    Deep into the night, the group stepped out of the pub into the open air. Ryan took a deep breath, stepping to the side to make room for the others stumbling around behind him.


    "You guys gonna be fine?" Ryan asked, looking at Modak and Silvia. The orc scoffed and nodded his head immediately.


    "What do you take me for? Tonight was nothin'' to me!"


    Ryan laughed slightly, "Sure, sure. Text me tomorrow morning and tell me how you feel then."


    "Whatever," Modak grumbled, quickly stepping forward to give Ryan a big hug, "Love you man, I''m glad you''re alright."


    "Sh-Shoulder, shoulder! I''m not that fine yet!" Ryan flinched with a nervous laugh as Modak pulled back, "But thanks, dude. Love you too. And be careful on your way home, alright?"


    "Of cooourse! Nobody''s gonna mess with me!" with a smug expression, Modak crossed his arms, clearly flexing his arms.


    Meanwhile, Silvia was practically the opposite; rubbing her eyes, yawning, and clearly ready to drop into bed once she gets home. Frankly, Ryan was a lot more worried about her than Modak. If she didn''t have such a straightforward way home, he would be concerned she''d get lost at this rate. But something good did come out of this. As tired as she was, she was leaning onto Fae without realizing. When, or if, she remembered this tomorrow, Ryan would have to turn his phone on mute or else her texts would cause an earthquake in his his room.


    "Come on, guys, you''ve gotta hurry to catch your train," Ryan pointed out, glancing at the time on his phone, and Silvia tiredly nodded her head. She hugged Fae and Ryan, even giving the changeling a kiss on the cheek, and then her and Modak started walking down the road toward the nearby subway station.


    Ryan turned toward Fae, who stood there still a bit taken aback. Her face, usually a blank white, was covered in a wave of colours; tones of blue and pink and red and orange, swirling around her cheek where Silvia had kissed her.


    With a grin and a chuckle, Ryan apologized, "Sorry about that, they just get like that when they''ve had too much to drink."


    "I-It''s fine," Fae stuttered out, before she just stood there silently for a bit.


    "Uhm... you gonna be good on your way home?" Ryan asked, trying to break the silence, and Fae quickly nodded.


    "Yes! Of course, some of us live in the dorm fifteen minutes away, so we''ll just be walking back together," she replied quickly.


    "Well alright, get home safe then," Ryan smiled as he stepped closer to give Fae a goodbye hug, but she held up her hand to block him.


    "A-Actually... there''s something I wanted to talk to you about first... if that''s fine?" she explained, and Ryan raised his brow confused.


    "Uhm... sure? What''s up?" his heart beating anxiously as he thought about what Fae wanted to discuss, Ryan watched the colours all over Fae''s body nervously spark up. She pulled Ryan a few steps away, out of earshot of her friends, and took a few deep breaths. At this point, if he hadn''t seen how head-over-heels she was for Silvia all night, Ryan would have thought Fae was about to ask him out. But that made him even more worried; he had no idea what this was about.


    However, Fae slowly built up to it, "I just... wanted to thank you."


    "Huh?" Ryan looked back at her confused, "For what? Did I do anything for you?"


    "I... uhm... During that party at the end of orientation week, I was one of the girls that... you know..." Fae anxiously turned her head away, and Ryan finally realized. He only vaguely remembered the girls from that night. It was dark, and Fae probably switched up her appearance a lot anyway, as changelings tended to do. And really, those girls weren''t his focus anyway.


    "Oh, I didn''t realize," he replied, "But there''s nothing to thank me for. I saw a very pushy guy hovering over some girls in an alley. I said something, and then... you know the rest."


    "Well... yeah, but you weren''t the only one that saw it," Fae pointed out, "And... he was a professor, I didn''t expect anyone to even say something, and especially not someone to just jump into the alley like that."


    Ryan didn''t know what to say. He had always been impulsive like that. It didn''t matter what it was, but he always had a big mouth when he saw people in trouble and a tendency to go all-out when things got violent. It didn''t always turn out as well for him as it did that time.


    "Seriously, don''t... you don''t need to force yourself to thank me. The guy swung at me once, and I beat him hospital-ready. I saw your expression afterward, you know I way overdid it. If the situation hadn''t been as serious as it was, I would''ve been kicked out as well."


    "I... I mean, I... was just a bit shocked. There was so much going on, and I... I just really wanted to thank you for helping after, but I..."


    "But it took you five months to finally muster up the courage to come talk to me," Ryan added, saying what was written between the lines, "You don''t need to force yourself to be my friend, I know that the way I act sometimes is way over the top, and I get if you''re... scared of me."


    "No, th-that''s not-"


    "But I think you and Silvia are really cute together. I can tell how much you like her, and obviously she really likes you too, so I don''t want to be an obstacle and-"


    "Seriously, stop!" Fae loudly interrupted Ryan, almost surprising herself, "Yes, I was a bit scared of you after that, and I wasn''t sure what kind of person you were. But then I came to talk to you and you were just so bright and warm and that just immediately disappeared. Especially after tonight, there''s no way I would still be even slightly scared of you. Just give yourself some credit, man."


    Ryan smiled lightly. He was glad to hear that, though of course being practically scolded like that felt a bit weird.


    Fae continued, "Everyone at school knows how good of a guy you are, alright? Seriously, if anyone was to awaken, I''m just so glad it was you," she pointed out, before a laugh left her mouth, "I mean, I didn''t know you were that kind of nerd, though. A magic class?"


    Ryan laughed slightly as well, "It''s not that kind of magic class. It''s a summoner thing. Turns out, it actually suits me pretty well."


    "I''m really glad to hear that. And now, to the important part..." the colourful patterns on Fae''s skin once more started flaring up as she stared at the ground, fiddling with her hands while trying to hide her smirk, "You really think Silvia likes me?"


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Modak''s head felt ready to break apart. Daggers and needles may as well be stabbed in and out of his skull, and maggots seemed to be roaming through his innards.


    Modak was hungover.


    He carefully rolled to his side, grabbing the phone that way laying on his bedside.


    <hr>


    <blockquote>


    You


    help


    call an amilanve


    anbulance


    ambulance


    I will never drink every again.


    Ryan


    lmao


    </blockquote>


    <hr>


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    With a loud groan, Modak looked at the time. It was already close to noon. He swung his feet over the edge of his bed, carefully staring down his legs at his feet.


    "How am I in my underwear, but still wearing boots...? These aren''t even the ones I was wearing last night, what the fuck?" Modak pushed the boots off his feet and carefully stood up, holding his forehead as he stepped out of his bedroom to wash up.


    "Ew," Kora walked down the hallway, putting in her earrings, "Wear some pants."


    "Okay. Go to work," Modak suggested in response, but Kora just turned back to him and sighed.


    "I''m about to, are you blind?" she asked. Now that she mentioned it, Modak noticed that she was wearing a dark grey pant suit. She looked totally different now than she did in her time off. And then, he remembered.


    "Ah... you''re headed out to Orianda till tomorrow or something, right?"


    "Yup. Was already on my way, but I forgot something," Kora explained briefly, grabbing her bag from the chair, "Now seriously, wear some pants."


    Modak quickly rushed over her, intercepting his sister before she could leave out the door, "Does that mean you''ve got that fancy company car standing downstairs?"


    "...Yeah? Why?"


    "You think you can drop me off at uni on the way? I wanted to go to the library for something," Modak explained in a pleading voice, but Kora just scoffed.


    "Why? You got a cute little study date?"


    "...Have you never heard of NRU''s library before? That''s the most horrifying place for a date ever. No, I''m looking up some stuff for Ryan."


    "Why, can''t he read?"


    "No, he can, obviously. But he''s still hurt, and I want to do something to help him out. Plus he paid for all my drinks last night so I owe him one."


    "Ahh, that''s why you smell like a liquor cabinet," Kora sighed, looking up at her brother with a raised brow, "...You''ve got thirty minutes, exactly. If you''re not here and ready to go then, I''m leaving without you? You hear?"


    With a broad smile, Modak rushed back toward the bathroom, "Thanks, you''re the best! Love you!" he exclaimed, making a small heart with his index finger and thumb while Kora just sat down on the couch.


    "You bet I am."


    And so, Modak rushed through getting ready, jumping into the shower and scrubbing his body down as quickly as he could. Afterward, as he ran into his bedroom with a toothbrush in his mouth, he looked around to decide on what he would need to bring with him today. With foam at the edges of his mouth, he got dressed and glanced at his clock, quickly jumping back into the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste. And in record pace, despite his immense headache that threatened to stop him every step of the way, Modak ran back toward the living room, where Kora was already waiting by the door.


    She looked at the watch on her wrist, "You ready to go?"


    "Yup."


    "You don''t need breakfast?"


    "There''s a bakery out front by the library, I''ll get something there," he explained, and Kora shrugged as she pulled the door open.


    "Fine by me," she said, as Modak followed her out and pulled the door shut behind them. And as promised, Kora quickly dropped him off near the university library, and Modak swiftly stepped out of the car.


    "You''ll be back tomorrow evening, right?"


    "Yeah, around 7 or 8 if things go well. Will you be at work then?"


    "Sadly. Got late shifts today and tomorrow."


    "Alright, don''t overdo it at the library then. Take some breaks. And get yourself something to eat, alright?"


    "Of course. Drive safe," Modak smiled, shutting the car door. Kora pulled out of the parking space and drove off, as the young orc let out a slight sigh. Of course, as promised, he headed into the bakery and got some sandwiches, but he was still feeling a bit too sick to eat anything right now, so he just put what he bought into his backpack for the time being.


    And then, it didn''t take long for Modak to navigate the campus and make his way to the library. As he stepped inside, he took in that pleasant smell of paper together with a big cloud of dust. The tower-like bookshelves stretched out toward the ceiling. Modak walked around the many rows and looked up, searching for a certain individual.


    "Mister... Stonebreaker... How can I... help you?" a voice asked from above him. Its owner descended from the ceiling via thread. Her mandibles rubbed against each other as she formed her words.


    "Oh, hello... how are you?" Modak asked, a bit taken aback. Arachnids were usually quite particular, but Aranea was probably the most sociable amongst the librarians, who were all scuttering about. They were sorting and retrieving the books, repairing them, and otherwise assisting the university''s students, professors, and researchers.


    Aranea''s mandibles rubbed against each other, "How can I... help you... Mister Stonebreaker?" she repeated herself, and Modak slowly collected his thoughts.


    "Right. Sorry. I''m looking for information on a few things. The awakened class ''Knight'', the class ''Spirit Keeper'', spirits belonging to the concept of ''Knighthood''," Modak quickly explained. Being straightforward with the librarians was usually the best idea. Aranea began to flick the thread she was hanging from with two of her legs in a specific pattern.


    "Spot... 21... TI... K," Aranea replied, turning around before climbing back up her threads. Modak made his way through the library, finding his row and the seat that had been assigned to him. He sat down on the chair and waited for a few moments, though it really didn''t take long for Aranea to once more arrive. Though, that didn''t seem like a good sign. Usually another librarian would come down to bring the actual books.


    Aranea quickly placed down an old leather-bound book in front of Modak. It was always quite a sight to see the librarians carry them, as their whole bodies were barely larger than the books themselves, so their eight thin legs were clutching them tightly. Though, there were a few librarians that were bigger, so they would bring the larger books when needed. But Aranea would only come out when the librarians had to talk to others; either to hear what books needed, or to tell them about some issue related to those books.


    "Nothing about... Spirit Keeper or... Knighthood Spirit," Aranea explained, her eight deep black eyes staring into Modak''s. He already guessed that there would be nothing about Spirit Keepers here. Otherwise it would be a surprise that the Awakened Centre didn''t know about them, but it was still worth a try.


    "I see... then do you have a catalogue of different known spirits and their concepts?"


    Immediately, Aranea pulled her body up by the thread again, without responding. A few moments later, before Modak could open the book he already had in front of him, one of the other librarians came down and placed a second book on Modak''s desk, and then disappeared a moment later.


    Modak pushed his hand into his backpack and pulled out his laptop, already a few years too old, and placed it on the desk as well so that he could take notes to show to Ryan later. The fact that there weren''t any books on Spirit Keepers and Spirits of Knighthood was a bit annoying, but he really wasn''t expecting much in the first place. However, the books he did have seemed interesting enough.


    One of them was a collection of different classes that had been noted down a few hundred years ago, and the other one was Spirituologist''s Journal as he communed with a number of different spirits to properly categorise their magics and concepts. Of course, they were just copies of the original texts that were created by the different librarians over time. Original copies of a certain age and fragility were probably kept in a completely separate place. Either way, they were the exact books that Modak needed.


    He got as much information out of these as he could get, and then flicked the thread connected to the corner of the desk. In response, Aranea would come over as soon as she could, and Modak could request new books while the others were brought away.


    "Hm..." Modak muttered to himself. There were some more specific insights on the Knight class than there were online, so that was definitely worth it. In regard to other spirits, he wrote down whatever he could find about the ones with more unique concepts connected to them. A lot of spirits were more based around magical or nature-based concepts, but there were spirits of specific types of magic or even spirits of specific kinds of combat, but nothing that really seemed to be related to knights or knighthood. That didn''t mean they didn''t exist, of course; rather, Modak knew they existed since Maximus was a thing. It just meant that they haven''t been encountered often enough for that information to be noted down.


    As Modak was flipping through the pages of the book, he felt a tap on his elbow. Startled, he turned around and looked down at the perpetrator; a gnome.


    "Oh, Richie, how''s it going?" Modak asked in a low voice, and the fellow student across from him smiled.


    "It''s... going. You know how it is. What''re you reading up on?" Richie asked curiously, standing on his tiptoes to try and get a look at what the books Modak had actually were. Seeing this, Modak quickly closed the books and held them over toward Richie.


    "Just some stuff about Spirits."


    "And... medieval classes? What, did you awaken?" Richie wondered with a raised brow.


    Modak sighed lightly, "Well, not me, but a friend of mine."


    "Huh... interesting. So it''s a really old-generation class then? Those don''t pop up that often anymore."


    "Right, you were a.... Technomancer? That''s the youngest generation, was it?"


    Richie quickly nodded with a smug expression, "Yup, yup. A result of the digital age!"


    "I guess you don''t know a lot about older gens then?"


    "Nope, sorry. Don''t really care too much about that," Richie replied apologetically, and Modak let out a slight sigh as he leaned back into his chair.


    "Well, it was worth a try. So, what are you doing here? Doesn''t really seem like your... scene," Modak pointed out. Technomancers tended to really be all about the newest tech and all that. That didn''t mean they didn''t read, of course. They were still a type of knowledge-hungry mage after all, but most of the time they would read through their phones or tables.


    "Ah," Richie said, pointing behind himself toward the book-return box set up nearby, "I was bringing back a schematic book that I borrowed for reference."


    With a raised brow, Modak looked down at Richie, an inkling of something coming to him, "For the robotics club, or just exam stuff?"


    "Robotics club. Our project the past semester was making robots for Power Duels," Richie explained smugly, looking up at Modak with a slight grin, "Why? You interested in joining after all?"


    Modak sighed and shook his head, "Sorry, man. I really don''t have the time. But... Power Duels, that was that thing where you fight with miniature robots, right? Like on TV?"


    "Yup, we''re doing our final showcase this weekend. Well, it''s really just a small tournament, but both can be true."


    A slight smile formed on Modak''s face. Power Duels were pretty popular a while ago, meaning some decades earlier. There was even a whole TV show about them, and even some cartoons where the kids fought far too extreme duels with those robots. But the way Power Duels worked gave Modak a certain idea. Seeing the orc''s expression, Richie was a bit confused. But Modak quickly revealed why he was smiling with a certain question.


    "Richie, do you think you could do me a favour?"

 16 - Power Duels

    "Alright, so, what''s happening?" Ryan asked, following his friends down the hallway.


    "Just calm down already," Modak replied, "You''re so impatient."


    "Dude, you texted us, told us to come to uni and literally said nothing else. You expect me to not be curious? Do you know what this is about?" Ryan turned toward Silvia, who simply shrugged in response.


    "How would I? I got here like a minute before you."


    Modak stopped in front of a door: The sign hanging on it simply read, ''Robotics Club''.


    "...You''re bringing us to meet your nerd friends?" Ryan asked with a raised brow.


    Modak scoffed and pulled the door open, "You''ve got a magical class, bud. You''re one of the nerds."


    Ryan looked down at his hands, his eyes quivering in shock, "What have I become..?"


    "Just shut up already," Modak pushed Ryan into the room, and the three friends quickly stepped into the Robotics clubroom. It was a fairly open space, and about half a dozen people were currently working on something or another. However, the centre of the room was suspiciously open. Tables and shelves had been pushed to the side against each other to make space, and broad white tape sectioned off a square area. One of the people on the other side of the room quickly perked up as the door opened, and pulled the large headphones off his ears.


    "Oh, already here? That was quick," Richie pointed out, pushing himself off his chair and moving over to the three guests, wiping his hands with a small towel hanging over his shoulder. He quickly stretched out his hand toward Ryan and Silvia.


    "Richard Snappertie, at your service!"


    Ryan raised his brow, shaking Richie''s hand, "Ryan Aglecard... sorry, but Snappertie, that''s... you''re the Technomancer, right?"


    "Yup, that''s me," Richie replied, glancing over at Ryan as he shook Silvia''s hand as well.


    "Silvia Redhorn," she introduced herself, and Richie looked up at her with a curious expression.


    "Redhorn? Are you somehow related to Yanna Redhorn?"


    "Yup," Silvia replied with a smug grin, "She''s my older sister."


    Surprised, Richie looked over at Modak and Ryan to see if he heard right, just getting a slight nod from each of them. Figuring that he shouldn''t press about this kind of thing, Richie quickly moved on, "Alright, so who of you two awakened?"


    Ryan raised his hand with a brief wave, "That''d be me," he said, looking over at Modak, "Now, why are we here? Am I supposed to learn how to use magic from him or something?"


    "No, no, it wasn''t anything like that. The robotics club is working on-"


    "Hold on," Richie interrupted Modak, looking at Ryan with narrowed eyes, "Magic? You... you awakened with a magical class? Ryan Aglecard, the guy that not even people from the martial arts clubs mess with... that Ryan Aglecard awakened with a magical class?"


    Silvia chuckled with a nod of her head, "You''re just as surprised as the rest of us."


    "Shut up," Ryan glared at Silvia briefly, before looking back down at Richie, "You know me?"


    "Of course I know you, I doubt there''s anyone at this school that hasn''t heard some rumour or two about you at this point. Gods, you made a hell of a mess during your orientation week." Richie laughed, but Ryan quickly interrupted him.


    "I get it, I get it... but yeah, it''s a summoner type class, basically. I didn''t expect it either, trust me, but... it''s pretty neat."


    A broad, curious grin formed on Richie''s face as he put everything together, "Oh, okay, I see where this is going. Let me guess, whatever it is you summon, it''s a..." Richie held his hand over one another, about twenty to thirty centimetres away from each other, "...yay tall physical combat summon?"


    "That... yeah, that''s exactly right," Ryan glanced over at Modak, who was just standing there with a smile on his face.


    Exactly then, Richie stretched his hand out toward the table that he was sitting at earlier. For just a moment, his eyes seemed to give off sparks of soft blue light, that quickly travelled through Richie''s arm like a current. An arc of electricity shot outward from his finger to the table, connecting with something there. Before that arc of energy even settled down, some quiet metallic thumps could be heard. A small figure leapt off the table and came running over to the group, quickly jumping up onto Richie''s arm.


    "Meet R.0.X.13. Or, well... Roxie," Richie said proudly, showing off the small humanoid robot stood on his shoulder. Roxie had a vaguely feminine, stylized form with thick arms and legs. The two antennae on top of its head, combined with the hexagonal compound eyes and some other design features made it very clear that Roxie was borrowing a lot of traits from ants.


    "Wait, is this a Power Duel robot?" Ryan asked immediately, leaning slightly forward with a broad smile on his face, "Holy shit, I watched that show every week as a kid, that''s so cool!"


    Silvia pushed forward and took a close look at the robot as well, "I think I''ve still got all the Power Duel comics at home, I''ve never seen a real Duellist! I mean, I''ve got some of the toys, but it''s not the same thing."


    "Heh, well, Roxie here is a state of the art model that I myself built," with a smug grin, Richie glanced at the robot, before looking at Ryan, "So, are we doing this or not?"


    Ryan looked at Modak, not sure if he was understanding everything correctly, but seeing his friend''s excited smile, he let out a sigh, "Honestly, you could have explained it beforehand, man."


    As he held forward his hand, a flow of red wisps appeared from Ryan''s arm and hand, gathering on the ground until they formed the body of Maximus. As Richie placed Roxie down onto the ground, he took a closer look at the small knight.


    "Oh wow, that... what kind of summon is it?"


    "He''s a type of Spirit. Maximus the Knight."


    Richie raised his brow curiously, "Huh, alright. I wonder how a Spirit compares to my cute little Roxie then."


    "Great, can we start right away then?" Ryan asked, actually just as curious about that as Richie seemed to be. However, the gnome quickly shook his head.


    "Oh gods no, we need to do a bunch of tests first," with a scoff, Richie walked over to his table, grabbing a tablet that was laying on it. He moved some things around opened some kind of data-entry program, "All of our robots are installed with full-body sensors. You know, to track the damage points and stuff. But obviously, your spirit doesn''t have that, so we''ve got to figure out how to track all that. And since armour doesn''t exactly have stats in the same way, I-"


    "Actually, that armour is his body, so I can actually tell you what his resistance stat is," Ryan pointed out, and Richie raised a brow curiously.


    "Is that so? Well, that does indeed make things a little easier. Here, can you fill this out real quick? I''ve made some stat approximations for Roxie, so with that I should be able to calculate the damage received mostly accurately based on the amount of force that Roxie uses at any specific moment together with the counter-impact that''s measured with any attack," Richie explained, handing the tablet over to Ryan, who quickly entered the stats that the input fields were asking for. When he was done, he quickly handed the tablet back, and Richie looked it over for a moment.


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    "Huh, that''s pretty high, considering its size... but it doesn''t have the Agility stat, so I guess it''s really more of a strength-tanker?" Richie asked, and Ryan nodded with a slight shrug.


    "Basically, from what I gathered," he replied, looking down at Roxie somewhat curiously, "So, that Robot can put up with his stats?"


    "Stats aren''t everything, so yes," with a smug grin, Richie crossed his arms, "You''re at the NRU Robotics Club right now, bud. Our Duellists would kick the butts of the ones from the original series. The original series is also about thirty years old, but that''s not important. The fact that we''ve got state of the art magical engineering resources helps too, I guess. Oh, but we''ll be balancing some of the point values to make up for the stat difference to a certain degree. I hope you don''t mind."


    "Nah, go ahead."


    Richie walked over to one end of the square area sectioned off through tape. He snapped his finger and a spark of electric blue magic arced between the tablet in his hand and the monitor set up at the side of the makeshift ''arena''. There were now two numbers displayed on the screen, one labelled, ''Roxie'', the other ''Maximus''.


    "Each side has 100 points. It''s basically their health, and every attack will reduce the opponent''s, of course. I mean, you''ve played games before, right? You know how it works."


    Ryan scoffed and nodded his head immediately, "Yeah, don''t worry. I get the gist. But... sorry, can I have a quick moment?"


    "Sure, take your time."


    Ryan slowly squatted down and picked up Maximus off the ground, approaching the door. Modak and Silvia looked at him with concern, before the latter quickly asked, "Is everything alright?"


    "I''m good, don''t worry. I just need to talk to Maximus real quick," Ryan replied, pushing open the large door and closing it behind himself again as he stepped out. Modak stared at Silvia with a worried expression.


    "Should I have talked to him about this first?"


    Silvia smiled and shook her head, "You''re fine, don''t worry. He''s probably just nervous? I mean, he''s been in plenty of fights before, but this is a little different. And by the way," Silvia looked over at Richie curiously, "You guys are just spending your time re-enacting old gameshows-turned-cartoon-turned-cultural-phenomenon?"


    "Not all of our time. Just a lot of it."


    Outside the door, Ryan looked at Maximus who stood on his palm, "Before this starts, I feel like I should ask, but... you''re fine with that, right? To fight that robot?"


    Maximus stared back at Ryan for a few moments, before giving him a single slow, but very deliberate, nod.


    "It''s not like this is just for fun either, you know..? I mean, sure, it does sound fun and all, but I mean... you''re a Knight, this is like the perfect environment for us to practice the Spirit Link skill, right? It doesn''t hurt anymore, but the doc said I shouldn''t put too much pressure on my shoulder yet. My mana''s still out of whack too, but skills are fairly harmless in that sense."


    Once more, Maximus replied with a single nod.


    "...am I way overthinking this?"


    Another nod from Maximus quickly followed. Ryan let out a slight scoff, "Alright, if you say so. So, when we use Spirit Link, how are we doing this? Do you want to try out my style of fighting for a bit? Or do you just want me to nudge you in certain directions? I''ll be able to see the whole thing, after all. Might have a better overview."


    Maximus seemed to think for a moment. But it didn''t take him long to come to a decision, holding up one finger.


    "Alright. Then let''s do this," with a grin, Ryan nodded his head, "Guess it''s a good opportunity to try out that new arm of yours too, huh?"


    With an excited smile, Ryan stepped back into the room, placing Maximus down on the ground on the opposite site of the arena to where Richie was waiting.


    "You okay?" Modak after Ryan left the room so suddenly a minute ago. But Ryan quickly turned around toward him, and all the concern he had was immediately washed away. There was a broad smile plastered all over his friend''s face.


    "Couldn''t be better," Ryan took a few steps back until he was outside of the makeshift arena. By now, the other robotics club members had also gathered around and were eagerly awaiting the start of the Power Duel. Having one of their creations fight against a spirit certainly was a rare opportunity.


    "Can we get started?" Richie asked, pulling some gloves over his hands. They were covered in circuit-like patterns that immediately lit up the moment Richie fully wore them.


    Ryan raised his brow curiously, "What are those for?"


    "Hm? Oh, these are just a tool to give me finer control over my magic. You don''t have anything like that?"


    "Not yet at least. I''ve got a pretty rare class, so there''s no equipment made for it."


    "Gotta get it custom-made then. I can send you the name of a place I like," he suggested, and Ryan didn''t hesitate to accept the offer.


    Richie quickly clapped his hands together with a broad grin on his face. On the monitor that was displaying the ''health'' of each Roxie and Maximus, a 10-second countdown started, "Alright, get ready. now."


    As Richie said so, and as the timer kept counting down, Ryan activated the Spirit Link. He closed his eyes for just a moment, and as he opened them again, his irises were glowing in a bright red. The red wisps of magic flowed out from his hands, forming a connecting thread between himself and Maximus, so thin that it was hard to see it.


    Soon, Ryan was overcome with new sensations; Maximus'' sensations. The weight of his armour, the things that he could hear and see. All the information was simply put straight into Ryan''s head. He wasn''t sure if he could ever get used to this. It just always felt so foreign to him.


    Ryan held his hand slightly forward, clenching his hand into a fist. And right then, Maximus did the same thing, as if mimicking Ryan''s movements perfectly.


    Richie seemed to have noticed this as well, but wasn''t able to properly register it before the countdown hit zero. The moment that a buzzer signalled the start of the fight, Maximus ran forward. It was a weird sensation to Ryan; he wasn''t controlling Maximus directly, but it was a sort of ''suggestion''. Ryan and Maximus were working together almost perfectly, as Ryan, who had an overview over the arena, guided Maximus'' movements as much as the knight was allowing him to.


    Maximus closed the distance to Roxie in not even a second, at which point, Ryan swung his fist forward as he would in a normal fight. He felt a pressure stop his arm as Maximus'' fist impacted on Roxie''s body. Ryan glanced to the side; that punch was worth 15 damage points.


    As he looked back at Richie, the first thing Ryan noticed were the gnome''s bright white teeth pressed against each other for a massive, excited smile. Richie held his hands forward, as though he was placing his fingers onto some kind of keyboard or controller as his fingers started moving faster than Ryan could keep track of. Roxie slid past Maximus to move the fight closer into the centre of the arena, and the knight quickly followed.


    Ryan did a sweeping motion with his leg, which was quickly mimicked by Maximus. And as Roxie jumped out of the way, Maximus jumped toward the robot. He reached out, and while Roxie entered a guard stance to protect its face, the knight''s hands wrapped around the back of its head, grasping it tightly.


    As the body of Maximus crunched together, practically forcing Roxie''s head down with his whole upper body, his knee rocketed right through the robot duellist''s defence. Immediately after the full impact, Maximus let go and stretched out the leg he used to attack just now, kicking Roxie away. The robot now only had 41 points left.


    "Gods... so that''s how you fight?" Richie asked with a nervous smile on his face, "Remind me to never mess with you..."


    "Hah, don''t worry," Ryan laughed slightly, "You seem like a good guy, so I doubt it would come to that."


    "Right... well, anyway... it was a bit surprising, but nothing I can''t handle."


    Ryan raised a brow at what Richie said, focusing on the arena again. Roxie was running toward Maximus, and Ryan pushed forward his arm for another punch. But just before Maximus'' fist was supposed to touch the robot, Roxie just stopped moving altogether. As if someone had pressed ''pause'' on a video, it just froze mid-motion, interrupting any sort of momentum. Taken aback and unsure what was going on, Ryan hesitated. And in that moment of hesitation, Roxie''s momentum returned.


    With almost the same speed as before, the small robot moved forward and swung at Maximus. But the moment that Roxie''s jab touched the knight''s armour, sparks of electricity flew outward. Ryan could feel the heat and impact on his chest as the bright light of the sparks blinded Maximus'' view. It was truly an overwhelming ''stun''. From the corner of his eye, Ryan saw Maximus'' points.


    56 - That single punch took nearly half the points off, and if he hadn''t experienced the sensation of that punch himself, Ryan would have thought that Richie was cheating. But it wasn''t really like Ryan had the time to think about it all too much. Before the sparks of electricity even disappeared, Roxie attacked again.


    Its arm shot forward for another jab, as the robot started to move around skilfully like a trained martial artist. Meanwhile, Richie''s fingers were moving around mid-air almost like he was playing a complex piece on an invisible piano. But that skillful and fast movement wasn''t really what Ryan and Maximus were struggling with the most. It was the fact that at seemingly random points, Roxie''s momentum was just cancelled or paused, or whatever it was that was going on.


    Sometimes it would continue, as though Roxie was unpaused, but at other times, it just started moving in a completely different way, as if it was restarting its movement from zero. Like that momentum from before was just thrown away; discarded. Though, there was one thing that did seem to keep building up.


    Throughout these erratic and hard-to-predict motions, it was hard for Ryan to keep track of it all, and Roxie kept getting hits in. Sometimes, there were more sparks, and sometimes, there weren''t. Either way, it didn''t take long before Ryan and Maximus'' first Power Duel was over.


    Roxie - 41 Points | Maximus - 0 Points

 17 - Power Source

    Ryan and Maximus hadn''t gotten a single point in after Richie and Roxie got serious.


    "What..." Ryan looked at the gnome across from him in disbelief, as Richie carefully picked up the robot to look it over and make sure nothing was broken or too scratched up, "...what the hell was that?"


    Modak and Silvia also quickly approached, "How did you do that?" Silvia questioned, just as puzzled as Ryan. But Modak seemed to have some kind of idea.


    "Was that an Energy Transmutor?"


    "An Energy what, now?" Ryan asked, and Richie quickly explained with a proud grin on his face.


    "An Energy Transmutor. It can take one form of energy and turn it into another directly. In this case, it can access and transmute kinetic, electrical, and magical energies into each other."


    As he picked up Maximus off the ground as well, Ryan looked at Richie confused, "So what, you just turned Roxie''s momentum into electricity for those sparks?"


    "Basically. It''s a relatively new technology, so it''s not perfectly efficient. The only reason I can do it is because I can supplement some of the energy-loss through my magic. The others had to come up with their own gimmicks, though."


    Ryan looked around at the other club members, who were all excitedly agreeing.


    "Do you think... Maximus and I could fight the others as well? For practice, I mean," Ryan asked, not even hesitating. Maximus was a knight, a physical combat class. And after the end of the battle, Ryan noticed not only himself, but Maximus be surrounded by a particularly thin layer of that glowing dust representing a growth in experience. Of course, the others couldn''t see it, but Ryan could. While these battles were basically nothing but spars, they still allowed for Maximus to grow.


    He had no idea why he hadn''t thought about it before; a large portion of especially martial-arts based awakened ended up in combat sports, rather than actual ''classic'' combat scenarios. While they tended to level up slower than people that were active in Dungeon Diving or Heroics, they still levelled up.


    Ryan wasn''t necessarily expecting a full level-up, but just bringing them closer to the next one would just be great. Plus, the sooner Ryan reached level 10, the sooner he could get the Bluesky guys off his back. They kept calling and showing up at the Caf¨¦. Luckily Runar managed to intercept them most of the time, but until Ryan reached level 10, the point at which the trading of classes became impossible even with whatever methods Bluesky had found, they clearly had no intention of letting up. Not to mention, levelling up and strengthening their skills would make finding the rest of Gaia''s fragments just that much easier.


    So, in order to level up as soon as possible, Ryan and Maximus would make use of whatever they could. They needed to fight. And doing it here, in such a safe environment, only brought benefits. And if all the Duellists were as unique as Roxie, then this would not only be useful to grow stronger... but it would also just be a lot of fun. However, it wasn''t just Richie''s own choice to be made.


    The gnome looked around the room, trying to gauge the opinions of the other club members. Seeing that they were all curious and interested, the gnome replied with a nod, "Sure, as far as I''m concerned at least. I''ll run it by the other members properly first, though. Ah, but obviously it can''t happen right now either, we''re all still working on the finishing touches. This whole Power Duel thing is part of our main project for the semester, so we''re doing our final test-run this Friday afternoon. You can come by if you want, I''m sure the others will be happy to have the data from fighting a spirit."


    With a grin, Ryan looked at Maximus as he stood on his palms, "Are you alright with that as well?"


    Ryan didn''t even have to wait for an answer; before he was able to even finish the question, Maximus nodded enthusiastically.


    "Looks like we''re set, then," Ryan replied, already getting excited. But Modak was more curious about something else.


    "So, you said you''re doing a test run? Are you guys going to be presenting this to anyone?"


    Richie looked at him with a raised brow, "Of course. We''ve got a whole fair thing going on this weekend, where we''ll present our work to some companies and organizations as a thing to sort of sell ourselves. It''s a great way to get a couple job offers for after uni," Richie explained, "We''ve got some bigshots coming this time around, actually."


    Modak looked around the room at the other members, almost regretting that he didn''t join this club after all. But he simply didn''t have the time to spend on this. Honestly, he barely had the time to be here right now.


    Richie took out his phone and held it toward Ryan, "Here, give me your number, I''ll text you the time and let you know if the plan changes or anything."


    He quickly entered his phone number and returned it. And then, without further ado, Ryan, Modak, and Silvia left the club room.


    "...That was so cool," Silvia almost involuntarily let out after the door closed behind her, "Can we join you on Friday? I loved Power Duels so much as a kid, please!"


    Ryan laughed slightly and nodded, "Obviously, come join. Literally don''t know what I''d do without you two at this point."


    He looked at his friends for a moment as Maximus was starting to be taken apart, flowing into Ryan''s palms to take a break in the domain. He was seriously insanely grateful for everything they''ve done for him. Not only did they make his life here in the city amazing, but after he awakened, they went full-force in supporting him through it all. He really-


    "Sorry, coming through," a young woman pushed through the small group. They were stood in the middle of the hallway, so she really had no choice but to go right through them. A young Hobgoblin, carrying a cardboard box filled with bits of metal, tools, screws, wires, and most importantly, a partially constructed Duellist robot. She rushed through the hallway and pushed down the door handle with her elbow, carefully making her way into the room.


    Taking some deep breaths, the girl put the cardboard box onto a free table on the other side of the room. While taking everything out of the box, she was approached from the side.


    "Vanda, you alright? Didn''t expect to see you here today," Richie came up to her with a smile, "You missed a pretty good show just now."


    "Hm? Oh, sorry, yeah I was busy with work and then my little sister was suspended from school for a while, I-I''m trying to finish this in time, I''m so sorry..." Vanda replied nervously. Her hands were shaking and her claw-like fingernails were digging into her skin as she tried to calm herself down. Seeing how she was acting, Richie shook his head and started helping her unpack the cardboard box.


    "Why are you even apologising? This isn''t a job, you''re supposed to be here to have fun. I mean, yeah, a lot of us use it as jumping-off points, but if we can''t have fun with all of this stuff now, how can we later?" Richie explained his stance, and Vanda slowly looked at the gnome next to her.


    "...Right... sorry."


    Richie looked at the current state of Vanda''s work, raising his brows curiously, "Oh? That looks like a pretty interesting strengthening method."


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    As if a switch was flipped, Vanda snapped her head toward him, "Right? The power output was plateauing, and then I remembered this documentary about Enhancers that I watched a while ago. I spent days just looking into specific documents about the unique flow of mana through an Enhancer''s body!" she explained, seemingly starting to look for something specific in her tools and materials, "Did you know that they''re one of the few physical class awakened that use a combination of Aura and Mana to strengthen themselves? They let the two different energies intertwine in these rhythmic pulses. The Aura is the base for the strength and then the specific application of mana refines it into the specific type of strengthening that the Enhancer needs."


    "Oh? I think I''ve heard that before..." Richie muttered, cupping his chin in thought when he finally realised, "Wait, are you using both magical and electrical applications? At the same time? How does that even work, is it really giving the same effects as an Enhancer''s abilities? And your Duellist is so small, how did you..."


    An awkward laugh left the corner of Vanda''s mouth, "Well, it''s actually a bit of a glass-cannon... it''s very easy for it to get damaged, and kind of complicated to repair. But when I did some tests, I was able to boost the strength by a whole extra 34.7%! And that was only when using a really basic energy pattern!"


    It wasn''t just Richie that was shocked by this revelation. The other club members that managed to overhear what Vanda was talking about all came closer to take a look.


    "By that much? Seriously? Weren''t the baseline stats of your Duellist pretty decent in the first place?" Richie asked, not sure if he heard right, "That''s ridiculous, just... wow... How''s the energy efficiency looking?"


    Immediately, it was clear that Richie hit a sore spot, "So, that''s actually one of the things I''m struggling with... on the electrical side things are fine, but the mana output is still far too high because no matter what I do, I can''t get the precision I need into the mana patterns... So what I''m mostly working on right now is trying to fine-tune things. The voltage is fine, but the amperage is too weak, no matter what I do. Because I need two power sources, I just can''t seem to find any mana sources that give me what I need..."


    A bit in thought, Richie let out a groan, "I see the problem. That kind of thing can be solved when you scale it up for industrial solutions, but since our presentation methods are Duellists, that''s a bit of a struggle... You think you''ll be fine until Friday? A first-year that Awakened recently is going to do some Power Duels against us. He''s a summoner, and he summons a Duellist-scale fighter. They''re pretty skilled too, so it should make for some great data if you''re interested," Richie explained, "Frankly, the companies that show up might always be really interested in Awakened, but they sometimes seem even more interested in technology that can match up to Awakened. Especially since your approach is Enhancer-inspired, I think you have a really good shot at making something work this weekend."


    Vanda''s heart beat loudly in her chest, as if threatening to jump out through her throat. Hearing that from Richie was basically a dream. Not only was he the top of all his classes in the Magic Engineering program, but he was even a Technomancer! There wasn''t anyone in the Robotics club that didn''t take his opinion about things like this as fact.


    "Th-Thank you!" Vanda forced out anxiously, "That means a lot!"


    "Let me know if you need help with anything, alright? We''re all here to support each other."


    "Of course!" looking at Richie''s back as he moved back to his own table, Vanda couldn''t help but smile broadly. She looked at the bottom of the cardboard box, where she was keeping something wrapped up. Carefully taking it out, Vanda unwrapped what she assumed to be the solution to all her problems.


    Vanda quickly grabbed one of her tools and removed one of the plates covering her Duellist''s back. As she had a lot of things relying on the presentation working out this weekend, Vanda was concentrating deeply on finding a way to make this happen. She pulled an old mana battery out of the small robot in front of her, and then grabbed the wrapped-up object. A small glass cylinder with metallic plates at the top and bottom.


    And inside of the cylinder was a single object, a crystal that could act as an immense source of mana that she had managed to harness, "Let''s hope this one works... I really owe Christopher for getting me this..." she smiled, as the small green stone illuminated her fingertips.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan, Modak and Silvia stepped out of the university''s science-building, as the orc looked down at his clock with an annoyed expression.


    "Urgh... Sorry guys, I''ve got to go or I''ll end up being late for my shift," Modak let out a loud sigh, tiredly rubbing the bridge of his nose.


    Ryan raised his brow surprised, "Wait, you''ve got work today? And you spent the time that you should''ve been recovering from your hangover in the library for me? Seriously?" he asked, feeling even worse for relying on his friends so much.


    "The library''s the perfect place for that, don''t worry. It''s quiet and nobody can bother me there for too long if they don''t want to deal with Aranea."


    With a shudder, Ryan nodded, "Don''t remind me... the first time I went there I nearly shit myself..."


    "That''s what you get for dropping one of Aranea''s precious books," Silvia laughed, barely glancing up from her phone. Curiously, Ryan took a step closer.


    "You texting Fae?"


    Silvia''s cheeks quickly turned a bright red, "No! I mean, yes, generally, but not right now! I''m texting Yanna, she asked me if I want to wait for her to finish her workout. Ryan, you had some stuff you still wanted to ask her, right?"


    Ryan thought about it for a moment, and when he remembered what exactly it was, he excitedly nodded, "Right, yes! I wanted to talk to her about the best approach for unlocking some physical stats."


    "Ah..." Modak nervously looked at his friends, stumbling over his words, "I guess say ''hi'' to Yanna for me?" the orc asked, as Ryan and Silvia both looked at each other, trying to hide their smirks.


    "Yes, Modak, we''ll say ''hi'' to Yanna for you," Ryan laughed quietly, patting his friend on the shoulder.


    "You know, she''ll be pretty disappointed you''re not doing it yourself. You sure you don''t want to come along for a little bit? Probably won''t take too long," teasingly, Silvia pointed down in the direction of the building that Yanna was working out at.


    Modak seemed to actually consider it for a moment, but then just shook his head, "I seriously have to get going, I might already have to run to catch my train... maybe next time."


    "Boo!" Silvia held forward her hands and gave Modak two thumbs down.


    "Fuck off," Modak scoffed as he gave his friends a hug. He then quickly turned around, heading out toward the subway station, "Talk to you guys later!" he waved the two goodbye again as he headed down the path in the opposite direction of his friends.


    As they were walking, Silvia almost rushed ahead a bit, forcing Ryan to pick up the pace as well. Before long, the two reached the buildings at the edge of the campus, belonging to New Riverside University''s sports faculty. Right behind the building they stood in front of, a couple dozen students were running on the tracks. Meanwhile, inside of the gymnasiums in front of them, people were either practicing their martial arts or simply doing muscle training. And there was a reason why this school had the most Awakened students in the whole country.


    No matter the faculty, the school provided as much support as possible to their efforts, and that included the sports faculty. Silvia and Ryan entered into the gym for Awakened students. Everywhere they looked, heavy machinery was set up in rows that allowed for any Awakened to train using weights unsuited for any regular gym. If Ryan remembered correctly what he heard during the tour in orientation week, the strongest machine supported up to 2 tons of weight, even if just theoretically.


    Ryan couldn''t wait to train here once he properly spoke to the university''s administration about his awakening. He really wanted to open up some physical stats beside ''Dexterity''.


    "Hey, you kids," a gruff voiced yelled out from across the room, as a mountain of a man approached the pair. The grooves of his muscular arms and upper body were practically filled in with heaps of sweat that was dripping on the ground as he walked. Being more than a metre taller than Ryan, he instinctively took a step back to not get rained on, "This place is only for awakened."


    A little ticked off, Ryan raised his brow, "Excuse me?"


    "I''m just sayin'', if ya ain''t an awakened, ya can''t use this place, so get outta here already," the troll in front of the two looked down at them, sighing lightly.


    Ryan looked up at the man in front of him, his brows furrowed into a frown, "For your information, I am an Awakened, not that it matters to you. Yes, non-Awakened students aren''t allowed to use the machines for their own safety, but they''re allowed to be in here like any other student. So how about you calm down for a second and let us wait for our friend in peace?"


    Not sure what exactly to say, the man glanced back and forth between Ryan and Silvia, "I, uhm... I..."


    Before he could continue talking, or at least attempt to, the loud slam of a magic-supported barbell hitting the ground made all three of them flinch for a moment. As Ryan looked past the living wall in front of him, he spotted the person who created that sound. A young minotaur, drenched in water that pressed her short-buzzed fur against her densely muscle-packed skin, making it cling to the base of her horns. While she was shorter than the troll in front of Ryan and Silvia, she was still much taller than either of them. As she approached, her hooves clopped on the gym''s floor while she pulled her headphones out of her ears.

 18 - Yanna Redhorn

    "Silvia, Ryan? Sorry, I didn''t expect you guys to get here so quickly," the minotaur said with an surprised smile on her face, "I''ll take a quick shower and get dried off, and then I''ll be right out."


    "Wait, you know these guys?" the troll asked with a slight frown, and the minotaur looked up at him with a confused expression.


    "Laram, that''s my sister, I literally showed you a picture of her before. Did he say something to you guys?" Yanna asked with a concerned expression. Clearly, this wasn''t the first time that Laram acted as he did.


    "No, no, all good, he was just saying hello," Silvia looked up at the minotaur with a smile, but Laram couldn''t even react to what the young woman had said.


    "That wasn''t a joke? I mean, she''s an... elf, you know?"


    "She''s adopted, dumbass," with a sigh that made her septum piercing rattle slightly, Yanna looked back at Ryan and Silvia, "I''ll be right back! Just ten minutes!"


    And with that, the young minotaur rushed through the gym to the locker rooms. Nervously, Laram scratched his cheek, "Sorry, I didn''t know you were here for Yanna..."


    "Don''t worry about it, man," Ryan replied, slowly turning around, "We''ll just wait for her outside."


    The troll watched the two visitors leave, making their way outside.


    After a few moments of silence between the two, Ryan looked over at Silvia, "What?"


    "I didn''t say anything."


    "Yeah, exactly. That''s pretty unusual," Ryan replied, and Silvia raised her brow.


    "I just think you don''t have to play into how other people act all the time. If you just try to calm them down a bit, you wouldn''t end up in so many fights."


    "Come on, what was I supposed to do? He was clearly out for a fight. I''m not gonna act like a wuss in front of someone like that."


    "Ryan, that was Laram Oggberg, he was just scouted for the Awakened League."


    "Yes, I know that. Which also means that I know it never would have led to anything physical. But if he''s comes to us and acts like a dick, I won''t just let him do what he wants. Being an Awakened doesn''t mean you can push everyone else around," Ryan sat down on the bench near the entrance, crossing his legs with a click of his tongue.


    Silvia sat down as well, smiling lightly, "You know, it''s kind of a shame you don''t want to get into heroics."


    "...I just don''t think it''d be good for me," Ryan pointed out, "It''s the most dangerous field an Awakened can get into, and I''m not... I don''t know, I just don''t think I would be good at it. Not to mention, I would just be putting Maximus in danger with that, and I don''t want that."


    "And what, Dungeon Diving is better? Safer?" Silvia asked, staring daggers into Ryan''s shoulder.


    "...I mean, statistically, yeah. If I prepare a bit better next time, don''t take the same kinds of risks, and have some other people join me, I think it''s really not that bad. I''d also still be helping people without having to deal with literal psychopathic maniacs every day. Have you seen what kind of criminals are running around in this city?" Ryan let out a loud scoff, "And I know these kinds of things don''t happen often, but there''s a guy that shrank down a whole bus of people and kept them on his necklace for a week. Like what the fuck am I supposed to do against that shit?"


    Silvia looked up, slouching down on the bench, "You could also do something else entirely. Frankly, even if you might not be able to join something like the Awakened League or something where you need to be super strong, if you open up some other stats and train them up a bit, you could basically pick whatever regular job you want. Any company would go crazy to say they have an Awakened on staff."


    Ryan scoffed as he shook his head, immediately denying that option, "And what, become a mascot? Nah, if I''m going into a non-Awakened field, I won''t let myself be used for publicity. I really don''t want that kind of attention."


    "You''re already pretty famous around uni, though."


    "Does it look like I''m enjoying that? It''s uncomfortable. You saw it earlier, Richie already acted like he knew everything he needed to know about me, and that was the first time I even spoke to the guy. And everyone keeps acting that way. If I were to get into some shit like heroics that would get even worse."


    Silvia let out a deep, disappointed sigh, "Damn... I would have loved to design your outfit."


    "You already made me one..."


    "That was just some boring utility gear, I''m talking about a real recognisable thing. Something that looks just super cool, like you''d see in a game or a comic or something."


    Ryan sighed loudly, looking at his friend. She really just loved making things, whether she was good in that specific field or not. But the thing was that she dove so deeply into any topic she was interested in that she ended up becoming an expert in it within a few weeks. Granted, that was only related to things that made her creative veins pop up, but still.


    She''s the one that convinced Ryan to get more into model customisation rather than just building the ones straight out of the box, and even though she never did it before either, within a few days she basically knew more about model building than Ryan. Similarly, she was working on some things with Modak, repairing and customising old tech together, like that cassette-player that Silvia always carried with her, attached to her hip, painted in fashionable colours that always seemed to match her outfits. She always did that kind of thing, and when she had her mind set to it, she would try to get it done, no matter what. Though it could get exhausting sometimes, that was probably one of the things that Ryan respected and loved most about her.


    Knowing that he wouldn''t be able to stop her anyway, Ryan seceded, "Fine. Just don''t give me body-tight spandex. Make it fit my vibe."


    Excitedly, Silvia clapped her hands together, as though she really only needed to get the go-ahead, "The pact has been sealed, you shall not be allowed to change your mind now."


    "...Godsdammit... But I''ll be paying for whatever you make from now on. You convinced me last time, but now that I got the reward money from the DMB, there''s no way I''m letting you work for free."


    "I really don''t need the money, you know?"


    "It''s about the principle."


    Ryan and Silvia sat there for a little while longer, chatting away for a while. At some point, Ryan had wanted to get out Maximus, but he seemed to be in the middle of something. He was seated on the edge of his bed, his hands clasped together in front of his face, clearly thinking about something. Ryan would ask him about it later, but right now he figured it was better to leave him be.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    And then, before long, Yanna stepped out through the gym''s main entrance, her fur still slightly wet but starting to get frizzy, "Thanks for waiting."


    Silvia jumped up from the bench and gave Yanna a hug, "No worries, it wasn''t that long."


    While Silvia was still hugging her sister, Ryan noticed Yanna glancing around, as if looking for something. Or someone. With a slight grin on his face, Ryan looked over at her, "Modak went home already."


    "Hm?" as if startled, Yanna looked back at Ryan, nervously stuttering out a response, "Oh, no I- I wasn''t- I just thought since Silvia said you three were together earlier that he would... be here too..."


    Silvia finally let go of her sister and took a step back, the same grin on her face as on Ryan''s, "If you want to see him so bad, we can go by his work in a bit."


    Yanna stood there somewhat hesitantly, as though she was considering the offer for a few moments, but finally shook her head, "No, it''s better if we don''t. I doubt he''d like being bothered at work..."


    "Fiiine," Silvia replied disappointedly, and Yanna quickly looked over at Ryan, hoping to change the topic.


    "Silvia said you want some advice about stats? What exactly do you want to know?" she asked curiously.


    "So, the only physical stat I have is Dexterity. I''d love to get Strength, Agility, and maybe even Resistance? But I heard that one''s pretty hard to train even if it''s one of your base stats..." Ryan explained, and Silvia nodded with a shiver.


    "Yeah... I don''t have Resistance personally, but Laram''s been pushing me to train for it... There''s a few methods, but the most common one is to just get beat by others repeatedly."


    "...Huh. Yeah, let''s not... What about Strength and Agility? Oh, and Stamina would be great too, actually, now that I think about it. I''d love any physical stat beside just Dexterity, to be honest..." Ryan tried to hide his disappointment, though he probably wasn''t very good at it. Again, he ended up really liking his class, but in his mind, he always imagined himself getting super-strength or -speed if he ever awakened. But now, that probably wouldn''t really happen.


    Yanna looked down at the watch on her wrist, which she seemed to have used to track her workout earlier, "You know what, should we go back to our place and talk there? My coach actually gave me a bunch of booklets about common industry-standard training methods for stats. You can look up a lot of it online, but you never know what''s true and what''s bullshit some self-proclaimed expert came up with on the spot."


    Ryan turned toward Silvia, who also quickly nodded her head a few times to show that she would be happy to have him.


    "Alright, sure. That sounds pretty amazing, actually. I''ll be happy to get anything I can. Though in the first place, training physical stats is just so much more straightforward anyway..." Ryan sighed, as the three started walking toward the nearby parking lot together, "Like, how the hell am I supposed to train my Sociability?"


    "I''m glad I don''t have to deal with that kind of thing," Yanna pointed out in relief, before actually thinking about Ryan''s mostly rhetoric question, "But, I guess you could act more like Silvia?"


    Ryan scoffed, shaking his head, "Yeah, sorry, but that''s not going to happen. I have like five friends. Two of them are here, and one of them is my uncle. Not that I can''t make friends, I just don''t really care to. I''m happy with how things are. But Silvia is friends with like half the fucking uni at this point, I was shocked she had to introduce herself to the guys at the robotics club."


    Silvia just shrugged in response, "I don''t hang around the science building that much. I think I''ve seen Richie around before, I just never spoke to him."


    Trying to catch up to the conversation a bit more, Yanna curiously looked at the two of them, "You were at the robotics club?"


    "Ah, yeah, do you remember Power Duels? They made their own robots for that, and Modak arranged it so I can join in with Maximus."


    "Maximus?"


    "Right, sorry," Ryan replied, looking into the knight spirit''s domain. The Knight didn''t seem to be as deep in thought as he was earlier, and seemed to be paying attention to what Ryan was doing. Noticing that he was about to be called out of the domain, Maximus just gave a quick nod, showing that he was ready. A moment later, he appeared on Ryan''s hand.


    Seeing Yanna, and understanding she was a friend, Maximus slightly bowed forward as a greeting, and so Ryan "This is Maximus the Knight Spirit."


    Yanna leaned forward to take a closer look, "Wow! You''re saying it''s a Knight? I didn''t know spirits like that even exist."


    "Apparently they really don''t," Silvia pointed out, "Modak said he was looking around the library and he checked out some catalogues of known spirit concepts, and there was nothing related to Knights or anything."


    "Interesting... I know this girl that works for the Magic Tower that I could ask about it, if anyone would know it''s them, right?"


    Surprised, Silvia looked up at her sister, "How''d you meet someone from the Magic Tower?"


    "She awakened around the same time I did, so we met at this event for newly awakened people," Yanna explained, looking over at Ryan, "You''ll probably get an invitation to one of those in the mail too."


    "And a newly awakened girl got a job at the Magic Tower?" Ryan raised a brow. That didn''t sound necessarily promising and just another case of nepotism, but if she awakened into a class that was deemed useful by the Magic Tower, she would probably still be able to help Ryan out somehow, "I mean, if you could ask her, that would be great, thank you so much."


    "Yeah of course, no worries!" Yanna smiled with a slight huff as she unlocked her car.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    The group pulled into the garage of the townhouse, and the sisters'' eyes landed on the car parked at the leftmost spot as Silvia turned to Yanna, "Wait, was Dad supposed to come back today?"


    "I don''t think so. I thought he was supposed to come back on the weekend."


    Yanna parked the car as Silvia stepped out. Ryan got out from the backseat as well, following behind his friends to make his way up the stairs into the spaces above. Hearing that Silvia and Yanna''s father was home actually made him pretty nervous; he had met their mother before, and she was already quite intimidating. At least Ryan knew where the sisters got their energy from. But even so, imagining what their father was like made him nervous.


    As they stepped into the living room, Ryan spotted the man in question. Seated on a large armchair was a large figure that stood up the moment he saw his daughters enter. He opened his arms wide, revealing a large, round belly pressing up against a suit''s button-up shirt. Grey hair was sprinkled all over the areas of fur that were openly visible.


    "Welcome back!" Silvia said with a broad smile on her face, hugging her father. As he rubbed his hand over her back, nearly covering it completely with his palm, that massive man, even larger than Yanna, replied.


    "I''m glad to be home, honey," a calm, smooth voice replied, as he let go of Silvia and gave a hug to Yanna as well. Ryan was a bit relieved by how approachable he seemed.


    When the man released Yanna, Ryan stepped forward, holding out his hand, "Nice to meet you, Mister Redhorn. I''m Ryan, a friend of Silvia and Yanna from uni."


    With a smile on his face, the man clasped Ryan''s hand. He expected him to practically crush his hand, especially considering how much larger the minotaur''s hand was than Ryan''s, but it was just as gentle as his overall appearance, "It''s a pleasure to finally meet you, Ryan, I''ve heard a lot about you. And please, just call me Dimos."


    Yanna soon started walking toward the stairs, turning around with a hoof on the first step, "We''re just grabbing some stuff for Ryan. You know, the booklets I was given about stat training."


    Dimos raised his brows, quickly turning back to the human in front of him, "Oh, right! Silvia told me that you awakened, congratulations!"


    Ryan laughed nervously. Being congratulated for it always felt a bit awkward, but he appreciated it nonetheless, "Thanks. But yeah, it''s a magic class, and I''d like to open up some physical stats that I can train."


    "Of course, that is very reasonable. You should try to cover all your bases, especially if you plan on becoming a Dungeoneer," Dimos agreed, "Do you already have plans for your first dungeon trip?"


    "Actually, I already went last Friday," Ryan explained, seeing Yanna''s expression from the stairway. He guessed that it would be better not to mention that he got pretty hurt.


    "I see! I''m glad to see you in good health, then," with a laugh, Dimos patted Ryan''s shoulder. Luckily, it was his healthy one.


    "Yeah, but it was a bit rougher than I had hoped, so before I go to the next one I''ll train myself up a bit."


    "Very smart. Well, I will not hold you up then," Dimos smiled, slowly turning around to take a seat on his armchair again. He sat back down onto his armchair, watching as his daughters and their friend made their way upstairs. But Dimos himself was just nervously picking at his fur, sinking into his seat.


    He looked at the note in his hand, and read through it again and again.


    "I wish I didn''t have to tell her about this..." Dimos sighed quietly, looking up at the stairs.

 19 - Wildflower Planting

    "It was very nice to meet you, Ryan," Dimos said with a smile as he stood by the door leading down to the basement and garage, and Ryan nodded his head, holding the pamphlets and booklets that Yanna had given him.


    "Likewise! I hope you have a good rest of your night," he replied, stepping through the door.


    Dimos looked at his eldest daughter, "Drive safe."


    "Of course. We''ll drop by Moondust and grab some coffee on the way home, do you want anything?" Yanna asked, and Dimos raised a brow.


    "Coffee? At this hour?" with a deep sigh and a shake of his head, Dimos slowly turned his head toward Silvia, "But actually, could you maybe stay behind? There is something I would like to talk to you about."


    A bit surprised, Silvia looked at her father''s expression. He usually didn''t pull her aside to talk to her specifically lately, so it must be something serious. She quickly looked at Ryan.


    "Sorry about that. Talk to you tomorrow?"


    "Yeah, you got it. Thanks for the help today," Ryan said, quickly giving his friend a hug to say goodbye, as Silvia turned to her sister.


    "Can you pick me up a-"


    "Caramel frap, you got it," Yanna replied with a thumbs up as she made her way down the stairs, followed by Ryan who just gave another quick wave as he stepped down the stairs after Yanna.


    "You know what that''s about?" he wondered out loud, but Yanna quickly shook her head.


    "Nope. Maybe it''s about her grades or something? Or someone wanting to buy something that she made. Mom and dad sort of act as semi-managers for all her art stuff," Yanna explained, unlocking her car. Ryan got in on the passenger side, and it didn''t take long until the pair pulled out of the garage.


    While driving, Yanna glanced over toward the young man sat next to her, "So, you know which stat you''re gonna try to open first?"


    After thinking about it for a while, looking down at the booklet on his lap, Ryan just slightly shrugged, "Not totally sure. But I guess I''ll go for Stamina and Agility first. My shoulder''s still too bruised up to do any proper strength training. But once I can, I guess I''ll also try to go for Strength and Physicality."


    "So the whole deal, huh?" Yanna replied with a laugh, "Well, don''t overdo it, though. Especially when it comes to opening new stats, you''ll have a pretty rough time. And new stats you open grow slower than your base stats anyway. And level-up improvements don''t happen either, so it''s even worse."


    "I know, I know," Ryan replied with a sigh. It was pretty annoying, but it wasn''t the end of the world. Frankly, he would have been able to lead a happy life without awakening. He was happy with his stamina or strength, so anything on top of that was just a bonus. The only issue would come if Ryan continued going to dungeons. He would have to figure out some ways to support Maximus better, because it wouldn''t take long until he couldn''t do anything against monsters. At least, if he wanted to fight against anything but the lowest-level of dungeon monsters.


    "What about you? Did you open any other stats?"


    Yanna quickly shook her head, "Not yet, no. I''ve been more focused on training up my main stats."


    "That was... Agility, Aura, Strength, Physicality, Stamina, and Perception?"


    With a surprised scoff, the minotaur looked at Ryan, "You have the Mountain Archer class memorised?"


    A little embarrassed, Ryan nodded as he turned his sight away, "I''ve got most cool classes half-memorised. And when you awakened, I had to learn more about your class."


    "Awe, how cute," Yanna replied with a grin, "But yeah, that''s the ones. Perception is really, really annoying to train up. Seriously, I wish having more main stats meant you''d have more total growth, but it''s just... it''s just more things to train. My training results for my strength training have been really lagging behind, it''s pretty annoying..."


    Ryan looked over at Yanna with a slight smile, "I mean, yeah, but it all balances out. You''re still low-level, but your stat growth per level has actually been pretty good, right? What was it, around 0.39 total growth per level? That''s more than my average."


    "Well... I guess you''re right. But dude, have you seen the kind of arrows that''s normal for Mountain Archers to shoot? They''re as thick as your arm. Do you have any idea what kind of draw weight my training bow has?"


    "Yeah, but you also only awakened a couple months ago. You''re at a pretty good pace, right?"


    Yanna stared at Ryan from the corner of her eye, "I don''t want to hear that from someone who levelled up twice in a single day."


    "Don''t blame the player, blame the game."


    "You suck."


    "You don''t mean that," Ryan replied with a grin, looking at the minotaur smugly.


    Yanna sighed, shaking her head, "Whatever."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan stepped out onto the surprisingly spacious balcony of this small building with Maximus on his hand, taking in the evening sun with a satisfied smile. It was starting to heat up a little recently, and it was getting right to that wonderful mid-point of being warm enough to spend the day outside to relax in the sun, while not being so hot that you''ll end up drenching your shirt in sweat. Around this time of year, you also started seeing cold-blooded species out and about more often, making the city just that much busier and more diverse. Compared to what Ryan was used to in his hometown where 90% of people were humans, this sight alone was wonderfully exciting.


    However, he didn''t come out here to people-watch. He came out here to work, glancing over at the large, flat planter that had recently been built here. Runar didn''t let him help out, whether it was in the actual construction of the planter or by filling it with soil. Since Runar was actually pretty interested in plants already, he was able to help Ryan out with everything, including by preparing mana-rich compost.


    Rather, up until now, Ryan hadn''t done anything for this yet, beside gathering the original seeds. He let out a light sigh and placed Maximus down on the edge of the planter, opening the small pouch in his hand. Inside were a number of wildflower seeds, some of which were made of copper, at different stages of rust and decay.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Frankly, he didn''t even know if these seeds would end up sprouting, but Runar told him to just give it a shot. Even the metallic seeds. At the end of the day, they were items dropped from a dungeon, and the only thing left from the Abandoned Copper Foundry. After the dungeon had been closed, the mana started to dissipate and the structure returned to its former, empty state. And considering that item drops were the only things from inside of a dungeon that could be taken out of it, Ryan felt like he had to give it a try. Especially since these seeds were basically worthless.


    Very rarely, dungeon monsters could produce items that were useful or rare, but these were really just seeds with a surprising amount of mana. Though, just surprising considering their size, nothing extraordinary at the end of the day. He showed them to Aurora when he went to the Awakened Centre for his check-up, but she said they were only worth a few gild at most.


    So, Ryan did the only thing he could do now; sprinkling them over the soil. He grabbed the small gardening shovel shoved into the bucket next to the planter, covering the seeds in a thin layer of a soil and compost mixture. Ryan then grabbed the watering can, also conveniently prepared by Runar for him, to quickly water the seeds, and then... just stood there. Staring at wet dirt. Sure, plants with higher mana concentration tended to grow faster, but not to the point where he would be able to see them grow in front of his eyes.


    Ryan clapped his hands together, rubbing the small bits of soil off them, nodding satisfied, "Well. I think we deserve a break, don''t you?" he asked, looking at the Knight who had watched the whole ordeal curiously.


    Maximus replied with a nod, before showing a time-out sign with his hands.


    Laughing slightly, Ryan reached out to Maximus as he stepped back into the domain. Usually, while at home, he was outside a fair amount. Even while Ryan was working sometimes, he would stay upstairs in the flat and do his own thing, just enjoying having a body. But when he felt like taking a break in the domain, he would show Ryan the time-out sign, and he would make it happen. Ryan needed to be close enough to physically pick Maximus up for him to move into the domain, after all.


    Ready to grab himself a drink from the Caf¨¦, Ryan went back inside and made his way downstairs, but as he stepped out from the back behind the counter, Runar snapped his head around toward him.


    "Oh gods, finally! My saviour! I need you to take over!" he almost yelled out, "Just for like ten minutes!"


    With a slight sigh, Ryan nodded his head, "Just hire more people, you cheap bastard."


    "It''s hard to find good employees! I''m already wasting money on one with a massive attitude."


    "Well if you think paying yourself is a waste of money, you don''t have to," Ryan turned around into the back room to quickly wash his hands, getting rid of the rest of the soil. He grabbed his apron and the bandana he usually wore to keep his hair up during work, and stepped back out behind the counter as he finished tying it up.


    "Thanks, you''re a lifesaver. Got an urgent call I''ve put on hold for like an hour," Runar explained, quickly taking out his phone and dialling a number.


    Ryan waved him off and sighed, "Then just go and take care of it, I''ll be fine. Take your time."


    Without further ado, Runar ran off, leaving Ryan in charge. Luckily there wasn''t anyone at the counter just yet, so he had the time to properly get ready and clean up after some of the mess that Runar left behind.


    As he was wiping the counter clean, the door opened up and a customer came slithering in. A large, black-scaled Lamia. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt that openly displayed the intricate white-ink tattoos all over his dark brown skin.


    "Welcome! How can I help you?" Ryan asked, quickly putting on his customer-service smile.


    "Could I have an iced Latte? Oat milk, please," the lamia replied, placing his hands onto the counter with a slight smile on his face.


    "Yeah, of course, just a minute," Ryan replied, quickly getting to work. He scooped up some ground coffee into a sieve and twisted it into the espresso machine. As he waited for the water to heat up, Ryan pulled open the ice drawer and filled the cup. But while he was moving around, the incessant stares of the customer were digging into his skin. Lamias couldn''t even blink, so Ryan felt like every tiny motion of his was being surveyed.


    As the feeling kept creeping up on him, something else popped into Ryan''s mind, "Hold on, don''t I know you from somewhere?" he asked with a slightly curious expression, "Do you go to NRU?"


    The lamia perked up and quickly nodded his head, "Yes, I do! It was Ryan, right?"


    "Yeah, that''s me. And you were... something with a C?" Ryan replied, already feeling awkward about not remembering his name. He had a pretty unique appearance, so it was surprising he hadn''t remembered him right when he entered in the first place.


    "Christopher, yes. With a C."


    "Sorry about that, man, I''m really bad with names," Ryan replied, as he got the espresso ready. He turned his head back to Christopher with a raised brow, "Love the tattoos, by the way."


    Raising his brow, Christopher smiled, this time a bit broader than before. The corners of his mouth almost stretched up this ears, even though it was just a light grin, "Thank you. They''re pretty special to me," he explained, the bass of his voice pushing itself deep into Ryan''s head, "Do you have any tattoos on your own?"


    Ryan quickly shook his head, "Nothing yet. I just moved here from this super small town, and my mom isn''t the biggest fan of tattoos anyway, so I figured I''d just wait until I moved out. Not like they''re cheap either, right?"


    As Ryan poured the espresso over the ice in the cup, Christopher nodded his head, "I was quite lucky. My cousin is a tattoo artist, so I got a discount."


    "Got any tips for a tattoo newbie, then?" Ryan stirred the cup around and filled the rest with chilled oat milk.


    Christopher seemed to think for a while, and quickly came up with something, "Just make sure to be aware of the permanence. The choices we make can''t always be too easily undone."


    Ryan laughed and nodded, "Yeah, you''re sure right about. So, how you paying?"


    After Christopher held up his phone, and Ryan quickly set up the transaction. The lamia smiled as he tapped his phone against the terminal, picking up his drink.


    "Very nice to meet you, Ryan. I''ve heard a lot about you around school."


    "...Yeah, that sounds about right. But for sure, great to meet you. I''ll try to remember your name until next time, Christopher with a C."


    "I hope you do," Christopher replied, quickly turning around. He slithered back to the door, and soon made his way outside. Ryan pulled the payment terminal back over toward himself, looking at the screen. The payment earlier went through without issue, but now the screen was showing some display errors. The confirmation screen was overlaying the default logos that were there when the terminal wasn''t in use.


    "Dammit, not again..." with a click of his tongue, Ryan shook the terminal. He stopped for a few moments, and then held his hand out toward the side of the counter that was hidden by some signs. Maximus stepped out of his domain, "Just watch the place real quick, I''ll be right back."


    The small knight nodded his head, as Ryan quickly made his way to the back of the store. He only had to quickly go to Runar anyway, he apparently had a replacement terminal somewhere, so Maximus was just there as a quick security system while Ryan was gone for a minute.


    He rushed up the stairs into the flat, and quickly made his way to Runar''s office. He was about to knock on the door, but it was still just so slightly ajar, and Runar''s voice came flowing out.


    "...this Saturday? Seriously? It''s way too soon, I can''t just-" he started, stopping only as he was interrupted, "I''ve got my nephew here, man, I don''t want him to get involved in this. At least give me some more time to talk to him about some things... Wait, are you joking right now? How do you expect me to... okay fine, that does change things slightly, I guess... but still, don''t drop things like this on me without warning anymore. I don''t care that I- Okay, whatever. I''ll call you back later to talk more about this, I- Yes I''m busy, I''ve got a fucking store to run. Okay. Bye."


    As the call seemingly ended, Runar let out a deep, loud groan. Footsteps approached the door, and Ryan felt his heart skip a beat. He pushed the door open, "Yo Runar, the terminal is acting up again."


    Taken aback, Runar caught the door, "Oh, right, uhm... I''ll grab the other one. I thought I fixed this thing..." with a click of his tongue, Runar grabbed the terminal from Ryan, who swiftly turned back around.


    "I-I''ll head back down," Ryan stuttered out, already on his way back downstairs. He was pretty sure that Runar didn''t notice how he was acting, but either way, that really wasn''t important. What exactly was Runar trying not to involve him in? And what exactly was going to happen on Saturday?


    What the hell was Runar involved in?

 20 - Putting It Together

    Modak tiredly pulled open the flat door.


    "Morning," he yawned, giving Silvia a hug, "How''re you doin''?"


    "I''m... okay," the elf replied, almost meekly. A bit concerned, Modak looked at her face more closely as he let her into the flat. Her eyes were puffy and red, and she wasn''t wearing any sort of makeup even though he hadn''t seen Silvia leave her house without winged eyeliner since he met her.


    "You sure?" Modak questioned. The two were walking to his room, and Silvia kept looking down at the ground.


    "I... honestly, no? Like, I''m really not doing that great..." she explained, picking at her cuticles as she spoke, "There''s some stuff going on, and it''s really just kind of messing with me a lot."


    "Oh... I''m sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" as he offered this, Modak closed the door to his bedroom behind him, while Silvia sat down on the chair in front of his desk. She slowly shook her head.


    "Not really? At some point, probably, but right now I''m just really... confused? I did talk a ton to my dad about it though, so it''s not like I''m dealing with this completely on my own," Silvia explained, "To be honest, I wouldn''t even know where to start... I''d need to give you like 12 years worth of context first."


    Modak briefly touched Silvia''s shoulder encouragingly as he sat down on the stool next to her, "I''m always ready to listen, but only when you''re ready."


    Silvia smiled lightly, practically feeling the support of her friend give her strength, "Thank you. Seriously."


    After the moment passed, and both Modak and Silvia felt like it was better to move on to what Silvia was here for in the first place. The orc quickly looked at the table, "Okay, so. I''ve been working on this for you, like you asked."


    "Oh, awesome! How do I use it?" Silvia replied, looking closer at the cassette recorder on the table. Modak picked it up and turned it around to show her the parts she needed to know about.


    "It''s pretty basic, really. So, this old recorder only had an XLR port for microphones and stuff, so I took that out and replaced it with a 3.5mm jack port, so you just need to plug in your phone, play whatever you want, and press the record button. But since there was space I actually added a small audio splitter, so you can plug in your headphones so you can hear what you''re actually putting on there as well," Modak explained, pointing at the two small audio ports at the side.


    Excitedly, Silvia looked at the recorder, "Cute! Do you think you can-"


    "The screws are already loosened, you just need to pull the covers off," Modak interrupted, and a grin quickly formed on Silvia''s face as she practically pulled apart the tape recorder, exposing the electronic innards. She leaned down to her bag and pulled out a few things; first, some sandpaper. Without another word, she started roughening up the smooth plastic surface.


    "You need help with that?" Modak asked with a raised brow, and Silvia quickly shook her head, "No thanks! Probably won''t take too long, I just need to roughen it up so the paint will stick."


    "You got an idea what you''ll paint it?"


    "Hmm... I want to give it this sort of sleek, vibey retro look, like, beige with coloured lines on one side. I thought it''d be pretty cute like that! I mean, cuter than this boring, dark-grey."


    Modak thought about it for a moment, trying to imagine it, "That does sound pretty neat... Do you mind if I continue working on something else?"


    Silvia scoffed, "What, did you think I want you to just watch me paint this the whole time? I know you''ve got plenty of projects on your own."


    "Yeah, kind of. I''m working on this one thing right now that''s a little annoying to figure out," Modak started, pulling over a small box from the corner of his desk, "You''ve been asking me to help you out with a lot of this retro cassette stuff, so I''ve been thinking about it a lot. Do you know how cassettes work?"


    Silvia thought about it for a moment, answering a bit hesitantly, "They''re like, magnetic tapes, right?"


    "Yes, exactly. Basically, when you record onto a tape, the sound is placed onto that side of the tape through some super light electrical discharge to magnetize it. And then when you play that tape, the magnetic imprint is read and turned back into the electrical signals that we can then turn into sound."


    "Right, right..."


    "But these days, one of the most effective ways we store data is through crystalized transistors that work with mana instead of electricity. Like, there''s still plenty of use-cases and benefits to electrical transistors... they''re a bit less prone to mistakes, because mana-based memory can be damaged by too much ambient mana surprisingly easily, so right now we mostly use mana-based memory in bigger data farms or computers where we can shield it from ambient mana a bit more."


    Silvia followed along with Modak''s excited explanation, trying to see where he was going, "So... what exactly is that related to tapes?"


    Modak smiled broadly, continuing, "I''m getting to that! So, mana-based memory is so effective because the flow of mana is a lot more precise, and it''s a lot easier to read and write a lot of data at high speeds at a relatively low energy cost. Okay, now, back in the time of earlier computers and data-carriers that worked with magnetic tapes, there were some attempts to store data on mana-based tapes. But the issue with that was that, back then, we didn''t know the most effective crystalline structures to retain exact mana patterns, nor did we know how to block out ambient mana from getting to the tapes, so the cost was far too high for the benefit."


    Finally, Silvia understood what Modak was trying to do, "You''re going to make mana cassettes?" she asked with a curious expression, her hands already having stopped roughening up the piece of plastic she was holding as she looked over at the objects laid out in front of Modak.


    With an almost smug expression, the orc nodded his head, "Yup!"


    "Any reason, or just for fun?"


    Modak thought about it for a moment, but in the end just shrugged, "Mostly for fun, but I was talking to my magic engineering professor about it, and he suggested I write a small paper about it... He said if it turns out well, he could help me get it published, and that''s going to look pretty damn well on applications."


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    "Oh shit, yeah! That sounds like an amazing opportunity! You should do that, for sure!"


    Modak nodded, still smiling, "I''ll try, yeah, but I need to get it to work first. So, after some massive trial and error, I found the right sort of crystal tape that I needed, it''s this really specific thing that''s super rarely used in like a handful magic engineering applications, but it looks like it will work perfectly for what I need. But here comes the thing that I''m struggling with. On regular magnetic tape, the electrical current can be used more directly to magnetise the tape, but here, I need to turn the electrical current into a magical one, and then when I read the data on the crystal tape, I need to turn it back into an electrical current that can actually be turned back into sound, otherwise it''s not going to be usable at all."


    "So what did you do to make that happen?" Silvia asked, looking at Modak''s expression as he rambled on and on. He got like this sometimes, but Silvia didn''t mind. Rather, the way that Modak was explaining it was actually pretty interesting, even though magic engineering wasn''t a topic she was particularly interested in.


    "So, yesterday while we were at the robotics club, Richie mentioned something about an energy-converter that''s inside of his robot, right? And of course, converting mana to electricity and back isn''t anything new, but I felt like the way that the energy converter seemed to work was pretty unique, so I looked it up online, and in one of the older models, the energy in question is turned into mana in high-frequency bursts, and is then transformed into whatever other energy is needed. In the new method it''s just a more constant stream because that''s more useful for what they need, but for me, those high-frequency bursts are exactly what I need."


    Nodding her head as if she really understood the exact details of what Modak was actually talking about, Silvia at least tried to understand, "So you''re using that high-frequency mana stuff to actually put all the data onto the crystal tape?"


    Modak quickly nodded, "Exactly! But it''s really, really hard to fine-tune to actually make this something that''s worth it. Like, if it all works, then we''ll have a cassette tape that can store... three, maybe three and a half hours of audio? And that''s using the same tape length as for a 30-minute magnetic version. Not to mention, magnetic tapes degrade after like twenty years, but these will last a lot longer. Not necessarily indefinitely, but pretty long.


    "...Do you think once you''ve got it all figured out you could make me some?" Silvia asked curiously, and Modak immediately nodded his head.


    "Obviously, why do you think I wanted to even do this? You''ll have to use a new cassette player and recorder though. Not like I''ll be figuring this all out today anyway, though."


    "Seriously, now I get why the professors are just all over you," Silvia smiled broadly, as Modak looked at his friend with some relief. Of course, she managed to pick herself up perfectly fine, but if he managed to help her cheer up a bit, Modak was more than relieved.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan clicked the last piece into place, a steady frown glued to his brow. The armour that he was staring at was dull and boring. The form felt weird, the pieces too light, and the stupid expression on the face of the elven spearman almost ruined the whole thing.


    "...You ruined model building for me, you know?" Ryan groaned loudly, leaning back in his chair as he rubbed his eyes. He peeked out from behind his fingers at Maximus, who was seated on a small stack of books in front of Ryan''s computer monitor. Right next to him was the mouse that he was using to scroll down the page where he was currently reading a comic that Ryan recommended to him.


    A bit confused, the knight turned toward Ryan and tilted his head to the side.


    "No, you''re right, you didn''t do anything. There''s nothing wrong with the model either, I think I''m just still feeling weird about the whole Runar situation," he pointed out, and Maximus quickly moved his hand away from the scroll wheel to pay more attention to what Ryan was saying.


    "And seriously, you don''t know anything at all? You remember nothing from before I woke you up?" Ryan asked, but Maximus quickly shook his head. It had taken a pretty long time of going through dozens of ''yes or no'' questions, but as it turned out, Maximus knew maybe less than Ryan did about all of this.


    Whether it was some kind of specific spirit-amnesia or because he never knew anything to begin with, but Maximus had no clue what was going on. He knew how to use his skills and had a very clear idea about what his values as a knight were, but basically nothing beyond that. Not if there were other spirits like him, nor why he was in that box with his father''s stuff.


    Though, it was probably wrong to say that he knew ''nothing''; he did know that he had some kind of history with Gaia, but not how deep that history went. From what Ryan gathered, and he didn''t ask too much about it as he didn''t want to pry, they once were close friends. But since Maximus couldn''t say when exactly that ''once'' was, that was a dead end as well. Maybe Gaia would know some more things once Ryan found her other two fragments.


    At least there was a trace there. While he didn''t have another moment like when he recognised there was something in the abandoned copper foundry dungeon, he could guarantee one thing; Gaia''s full being was within this city.


    Though he was only able to tell him that since yesterday. When Ryan had spotted him seated in the domain in contemplation, Maximus was seemingly in the middle of realising that and let Ryan know afterward.


    With a long sigh, Ryan leaned his chin onto his desk, "Like... and this could definitely just be me not wanting my uncle to be involved in some crime shit, but my gut tells me that it''s nothing too bad. I mean, I''m freaking out about it, obviously, but I''m not freaking out as much as I should be... right? But at the same time... I just can''t believe that he''s involved in anything bad," he explained, as Maximus listened to him intently.


    Ryan looked at the knight''s expression, though it was really just the same never-changing helmet, "Am I putting too much faith into my raised intuition stat? It''s not like it''s a massive difference."


    But to Ryan''s surprise, Maximus also shook his head.


    "Hm? Wait, do you also think it''s nothing bad?"


    Maximus nodded.


    "...Do you have some sort of secret knight''s intuition that tells you that?"


    Hesitating for a moment, Maximus finally just pressed his palm onto the centre of his chest. Ryan sort of understood what he was trying to get at.


    "You think he''s a good person?"


    Immediately, the knight nodded his head once more, but Ryan just sighed, "I really do hope you''re right. I mean... we might figure something out soon? I mean, during that call he did say that he wants to talk to me about some things first. I guess I should trust in him a bit more?"


    Feeling a sense of relief, Ryan looked back at the model that he had just built, smiling lightly, "Alright, let''s get this shitty thing taken apart. I might as well re-paint it to make it look a bit nicer," he said loudly, reinvigorated with a new sense of energy, as Maximus turned back toward his comic.


    As Ryan looked at the model, he did get an idea, however. According to the booklets that Yanna gave him, the main way to train your stats was to push the limits of what you were currently capable of. Frankly, ever since he got his class, he hasn''t really spent too much time doing things with his hands beside building this model in front of him that he had put off, as well as build Maximus himself.


    His palm was practically perfectly healed at this point too, so he didn''t have to worry about hurting himself either. Ryan pulled out his phone, not wanting to disturb Maximus'' reading-time by pulling it up on the computer, and started up a stopwatch. Taking a deep breath to mentally prepare himself, Ryan quickly got started.


    He grabbed the model and immediately started pulling it apart; not violently, of course, but with as much precision as he could. It took him a little while to get used to it, but before long, he was moving at a speed that he could barely recognize from himself. He already surprised himself while working on Maximus'' new arm, but this was something completely, wholly different.


    Ryan continued, and in the end, it didn''t actually take him all too long to finish taking the model apart. It didn''t have all that many pieces after all, at least compared to Maximus. Ryan looked at the stopwatch. Five minutes. That wasn''t bad at all. But this wasn''t the end yet; he still had to paint them.


    After priming the pieces with their new base colour, he was going to go in with some finer brushes to paint in details. That was also something that Dexterity was supposed to excel at, so he still had plenty of chances. Not to mention... Ryan still had plenty of money saved up. He could buy dozens of models if he wanted to, which he did.


    "Guess I''ll be a bit busy," Ryan grinned broadly, standing up from his chair to grab his spray-on primer.

 21 - Trapped

    [Your Dexterity has increased by 0.01]


    <hr>


    The window popped up in front of Ryan as he was in the middle of pushing the head of the Hippogriff onto its body. Excited to have increased his dexterity over the next threshold again, he placed the animal model onto the table.


    In the past few days, by spending hours and hours every day building models, he managed to increase his Dexterity by a total of 0.03. Of course, it was only a little more than the lower end of how much it could increase through a level-up, but for the amount of time he spent to get to this, it was an incredible growth as far as Ryan was concerned.


    "Hell yeah," Ryan grinned as he stood up, stretching to get the stiffness out of his back and shoulders. His right shoulder was overall actually feeling pretty fine, but he still felt some pain when he moved it around too much.


    With a slight whistle, he picked up the finished Hippogriff model and placed it onto his shelf with the others, "...I might need to make more space. Or put some away..." he muttered. The whole wall in front of him was filled with different kinds of models; historical warriors, famous mages, some animals, and even a few dungeon monsters. The one that he had most fun building was actually the Grave-Worm. They were a pretty bothersome type of worm that was known to thrive in the middle of battlefields where numerous people had died, feeding on their corpses. These days, they were mostly a pest that could be found in graveyards. They weren''t really that big of an issue, but considering they could grow to be up to half a metre long and as thick as a thumb, they were certainly not a pretty sight.


    Apparently they were actually a type of maggot that either lost the necessity or ability to move on to the next stage of their life cycle. That being the case, Ryan remembered the stories about this graveyard that turned into a dungeon sometime twenty or so years ago, where massive grave worms were one of the more common monsters.


    And that was the model that Ryan was looking at now; a Grave-Worm wrapping around a skeletal hand, all at a 1:1 scale. It maybe wasn''t the most complex model to build, but it was definitely a unique final product.


    With a satisfied expression, Ryan looked down at his phone to check the time, "Come on, Maximus, we need to head out."


    The small knight, sitting on top of Ryan''s desk, quickly nodded his head. He stood up and walked to the edge of the desk, where Ryan was waiting to let him into the domain.


    ''You ready for the battles later?'' he asked inwardly, and Maximus stood in the centre of his domain, showing him a thumbs-up. He''s been picking up some weird habits from the comics he''s been reading lately. And to think he didn''t even know what a fist-bump was a week ago.


    Ryan threw his bag over his shoulder and quickly left his room, making his way through the flat''s main entrance. There were two different stairways, one leading right into the caf¨¦, and another leading to the alley behind the building. Especially when the caf¨¦ was busy, he preferred going out through the back. Ryan has been trying his best to avoid Runar as much as he could as well.


    He stepped out of the door and pulled it shut behind him, pushing against it briefly to make sure it was locked before making his way down the alley. But as he turned around the corner, walking away from Caf¨¦ Runic''s main entrance, he heard someone call out to him.


    "Mister Aglecard, one moment, please!" with a voice that already made the hairs on Ryan''s neck stand up, Simon Grand, the representative from Bluesky that just wouldn''t leave him alone, came up to him.


    Trying to act like he neither heard nor saw that stuck-up high elf, Ryan pulled out his headphones and pulled them over his head, picking up the pace a bit. However, it didn''t seem to take a lot of effort for Simon to catch up on him.


    "Mister Aglecard," Simon once more said, with that annoyingly fake smile on his face, now having cut Ryan off.


    "Fucking- Can you stop following me around already?" Ryan groaned loudly, quickly stepping past Simon to continue on his way to the subway.


    With a laugh, Simon quickly caught up to him again, simply walking next to him, "We have been struggling to contact you to show you further offers. You must understand that-"


    "Okay, get it in your fucking thick ass skull already. I am not interested in selling my fucking class! I''ve told you like a dozen times, and I''ve already complained about you at the Awakened Centre. What will it take to get you to finally leave me alone?" Ryan asked, at the end of his rope. This is probably the third time that Simon was waiting for him to leave the building so that he could talk about another one of his ''offers'', but no matter what, he just wouldn''t listen.


    The corners of Simon''s mouth twitched slightly, though he was trying to keep up his smile, "There is no need for that kind of language. Bluesky Industries has a long history with the Aglecard family-"


    "Oh my gods, I''m not a member of that stupid ''Aglecard'' family! I just happen to have the same last name! I grew up in fucking Maidsbury, dude. You somehow managed to find out where I live, but you don''t even know that?" Ryan barked at Simon and picked up the pace, rushing down the stairs into the subway.


    "... You... just happen to share the same name?" Simon''s voice still clung to Ryan''s ears, as though he was standing right next to him, "That certainly does make things a bit easier."


    Ryan felt a tug on his arm as a hand tightened around his wrist. Ryan turned around confused, and was almost startled at Simon''s sudden change in expression. As if he was angry that Ryan had been wasting his time, he suddenly lost any will to be cordial with him. Simon quickly pulled Ryan a bit closer and placed his other hand onto his right shoulder. He practically buried his fingers inside the not-yet healed wound on his shoulder, and Ryan felt his whole body cramp in response.


    "What the-" Ryan let out, or at least he thought so. But even though he opened his mouth, no sound left his throat. As he looked around, it seemed as though the whole world, practically everything beside himself and Simon, had been desaturated and robbed of its colour. Meanwhile, despite what was happening to Ryan right now, nobody seemed to notice.


    People in this city stared when you wore a slightly weird jacket; there''s no way they wouldn''t even glance over here when something like this was going on.


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    "Now listen to me. I think there have been some miscommunication. Bluesky wants the Spirit Keeper class. And it is in your best interest to sell it to us. We will compensate you greatly, and you will never have to work another day in your life," Simon''s voice was eerie and sounded like someone was scratching their nails on a chalkboard. Whatever professionalism he had before was gone like it never existed in the first place. While Ryan struggled to pull himself out of Simon''s grasp, the elf continued, "We will simply be able to make much, much better use of that Class than you ever could. We have the resources to actually figure out the specifics of what it can do, and what the limits of its application are. Unique classes can bring society forward by years at a time. And you would really rob the people of this world of that chance for what? Some measly pride?"


    Ryan didn''t want to listen any more. He ground his teeth together, angry at the words that this ridiculous guy was saying. He heard about some bad rumours about the way that class-trading was handled and about Bluesky as a whole, but he never expected it to be this bad. However, if they wanted to mess with Ryan, they should have at least brought a physical class.


    And just when Simon''s grip tightened, wisps of red light started flowing out from Ryan''s face as Maximus jumped out of his domain. With a perfect punch to the nose, the elf flinched, loosening his grip on Ryan''s wrist and shoulder, letting him break free. He immediately grabbed Simon''s hand and pushed his middle finger backward, putting as much weight behind it as he could. As the taken-aback elf pulled his shoulder back to avoid his finger being broken as blood started pouring down over his lips, Ryan swept away Simon''s legs and violently kicked him away. Simon hit the stairs behind him and was staggered for a while, clearly not having expected anything like this at all.


    Without a moment''s hesitation, Ryan turned around and ran down to the subway platform. He had heard the train arriving just now, so he had to hurry; he managed to rush into the train just the doors were closing, and as Simon got up from the ground, it pulled out of the station.


    Letting out a relieved sigh, Ryan clicked his tongue, pulling Maximus back into the domain, "Fucking psychos... he''s an Arcane Trapper?" he muttered to himself while pulling out his phone. Without a moment''s hesitation, Ryan called Aurora.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Hey, hey~!" Silvia said with a slight wave as she stepped into the robotics clubroom, where the club''s members were setting up for the test-runs. Modak was standing near the door, just watching them. The orc turned around and quickly greeted his friend.


    "Yo, how''re you doing?"


    "I''m alright, you?" Silvia replied, quickly glancing around the room, but Modak just sighed loudly.


    "Ryan''s not here yet."


    "Huh? Seriously? He''s usually pretty good at being on time."


    "I know, I already texted him, but he hasn''t replied yet. You think something happened?" with concern clearly written on his face, Modak looked down at his phone.


    But Silvia just scoffed and shook her head, "Ryan probably just got a bit lost in model-building. He sent me a picture of the pile of boxes that were stacking up in his room, he used up that reward money really damn well."


    Overhearing the conversation as he walked around the room while setting up, Richie looked over at the two friends, "Reward money? What reward money?"


    Silvia glanced over at Modak, unsure if she should say it, but Modak just shrugged at her, "He didn''t seem to care if people know."


    "I guess so," Silvia replied, and turned back toward the curious gnome walking up to her, "Ryan closed down a dungeon."


    "... What? Isn''t that a really complicated process? Are you serious? How did he manage that?" taken aback, the puzzled Richie was practically stunned in confusion, but Modak quickly explained.


    "He didn''t fully close it himself. He found and destroyed the Dungeon Heart and then called the DMB right after. Because he called so quickly and showed them how to get to the core room, they were able to close it permanently, so he got a reward."


    Richie thought about it for a moment, before seemingly remembering something, "Was it that factory in Copper Beach? That''s the only dungeon I remember being recently."


    "That''s the one," stepping through the door with some heavy breaths, Ryan responded to Richie''s question.


    "Well, good job, and congratulations. Helping close a dungeon so soon after awakening? Doubt that happens all too often," Richie looked at Ryan, clearly impressed, "... Do you mind if we mention that tomorrow? Like, tell people that the spirit our duellists fought belongs to the one that helped close the dungeon?"


    Ryan immediately just shrugged. He was exhausted from the way here, "I don''t care, man, do whatever you want. But, just to make it clear, I don''t ''own'' Maximus, he''s an individual and my friend that chose to trust me with his safety."


    "Ah, sorry... Yeah of course," Richie nervously responded, "I didn''t mean it like..."


    "All good," Ryan stopped Richie with a shake of his head, "Let''s just get ready for the Duels, alright?"


    "Of course!" quickly, as if trying to run away from this conversation, Richie turned around to get back over to where the other club members were setting up. Ryan walked up to Silvia and Modak, who were both looking at him with concern.


    "You alright?" Modak asked, noting the clearly annoyed expression on his friend''s face from the moment he walked into the room. And just a moment later, it became clear just how annoyed he really was.


    With a click of his tongue, Ryan shook his head, "No, I''m not alright at all. You know that fucking asshole Bluesky dude? He tried to fucking threaten me and used some trapping skills on me."


    "What?" Silvia let out confused, "What do you mean, he used trapping skills?"


    "He''s a fucking Arcane Trapper, or at least he''s got similar skills. I watched an interview with one last year, and it was exactly how he described it."


    "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Modak nervously looked his friend up and down, "Should we call someone? The police?"


    "The police wouldn''t do shit anyway," Ryan crossed his arms annoyed, "I have no proof at all beyond my word, but I did call the person in charge of me at the Awakened Centre. She said she''d look into what she can do or whatever, but I''m just really pissed off right now. That fucker pushed his fingers into my shoulder, right onto my wound, on purpose."


    Silvia shuddered, "That crappy little-" she stopped herself, getting more and more worked up over the information, "Are you sure you''re okay? Do you want to call today off?"


    "Oh, I absolutely refuse to call this off, I actually need to let off some steam. Plus, it''s probably going to help Maximus and I get some experience. The faster I''m at level ten, the faster those guys will permanently leave me alone," Ryan groaned, turning toward Richie and the other club members, "Yo, Richie, when can we get started?"


    The gnome turned around and looked at the watch on his wrist, "Basically now? We''re still waiting for someone, but she said she''s on her way, we''re just pushing her back in the duel order."


    "Right, so how''s this whole thing gonna work anyway?" Ryan looked around the room at the setup. All the desks had been pushed fully against the walls to make as much as space as possible, and three square areas had been marked off on the ground with tape, each with a monitor right next to it.


    "Basically, everyone fights against everyone once. We want to get as much actual duel data as possible. Three duels will happen at once, and there''s a bit of time to check on the condition of the Duellist after each round and duel. Every duel is three rounds. Not like a first to two thing, just three blanket rounds to get the data we need," Richie explained, pointing over at one of the screens near the door that was just being set up, "That''s the duel order, you can check it out if you want. There''s twelve of us total, including you, so everything will take pretty long. We''re trying to streamline the whole thing as much as we can."


    Ryan quickly made his way over toward the screen, looking the schedule over. His first ''duel'' was one of the first three, and it was against a guy called Kit and his Duellist ''Lightspeed''.

 22 - Lightspeed

    Ryan looked around the room, stepping up to ''Arena 3'', though it was really just a square sectioned off with tape. The monitor right next to it already read the names of the two Duellists; Maximus and ''Lightspeed''.


    Walking up to the person he figured to be his opponent, Ryan stretched out his hand, "You Kit? Nice to meet you, I''m Ryan."


    A pair of horizontal pupils stared at him as the Minogid in front of Ryan seemed to look him up and down a few times. The goat-man slowly stretched his hand out to Ryan, "Likewise. Ready?" he asked. Ryan looked to the side a bit awkwardly, glancing at the Duellist already waiting to get started. Kit didn''t seem to be a massive conversationalist, so it was probably better to just start, as he suggested.


    "Yeah, sure, let''s do it. Whatever."


    With a grumbled sigh, Ryan walked to the other side of the makeshift arena. As he was walking, red wisps flowed out of his pant legs and from under his shirt, forming Maximus body. Over the past few days the two of them had practised the exact conditions for stepping in and out of the domain, so that Maximus could leave more freely. That totally saved his ass with Simon earlier.


    Kit seemed to stare at Maximus for a few moments. He had some kind of podium set up in front of him with what seemed to be a keyboard and a tablet propped up on it. That was probably how he was going to control ''Lightspeed''.


    Similarly, there was one set up right in front of Ryan, with a tablet provided by Richie. There were just two buttons on the screen. One for the ''Knight''s Attack'' skill, and one for the ''Knight''s Guard'' skill. Since all the Duellists had their own gimmicks, Ryan and Richie decided that it would only be fair if Maximus was allowed to use skills as well, but since the strength and resistance boosts that came from this would change the point calculations, Ryan would need to press those buttons whenever either of those skills were active so that the data could continue being tracked properly.


    Of course, since Maximus was currently using the ''Crusader'' arm instead of the base ''Knight'' arm, Ryan also let Richie know about the changed stats beforehand.


    "Max," Ryan said, and the knight slowly turned around toward him. He nodded his head, showing that he was good to go. Seeing that the first three duels were good to go, Richie started the countdowns with a snap of his finger.


    Looking at the countdown, Ryan took off his jacket and threw it over a chair, activating his Spirit Link skill. A thin thread formed between him and Maximus, and the two got ready. They''d have ten minutes, so depending on how quickly this and the next round ended, the skill would stay active for the first of two rounds, but would be inactive for the third. Because of the breaks between every duel while other people were going, Ryan should be able to activate the skill in that same way at the start of every new duel.


    Ryan cracked his knuckles, and Maximus did the same, though his gloved hand didn''t make the same sounds of course.


    And then, the countdown hit zero, and the first round started. Basically the moment this happened, Lightspeed closed the distance between itself and Maximus. Barely able to react, Maximus raised his arms up defensively as a punch came in. Ryan glanced over at the ''health'' scores on the monitor.


    Lightspeed - 100 | Maximus - 97


    It wasn''t a strong attack, but the issue was the speed. Ryan clicked his tongue, watching as Lightspeed quickly moved around Maximus'' body. Pulling back his arm to help prompt Maximus to move into the correct position, Ryan could feel something from Maximus. He was going to activate his guard skill. Ryan would have suggested this as well, so he was quite glad.


    From the first seconds of the duel, it was clear how Lightspeed would fight. With many, fast attacks. Most of the small robot''s weight was in its legs, and its design seemed to be something of a fusion between a rabbit and a frog.


    Ryan reached out to the tablet when Maximus'' skill activated and pressed the button to mark it for the score calculations. Meanwhile, the knight''s body was being enveloped in a thin red aura that pressed tightly against the plates of his armour.


    The next attack came in; a quick jab. Ryan threw back his elbow to retaliate, but Lightspeed already moved around. The robot was slightly jumping up and down, positioning itself and moving like a boxer would. Glancing over at the other side of the arena, one of Kit''s hands was on the keyboard while the other was practically glued to the tablet, moving around rapidly.


    It didn''t take long until Lightspeed moved in again; jab after jab, while Maximus and Ryan could do nothing but block.


    "Isn''t he just being a sandbag right now?" Silvia whispered to Modak, trying not to distract Ryan or any of the club members. Modak slowly nodded his head in response.


    "Yeah, kind of... But I guess they can''t deal with that speed? I mean, Maximus doesn''t even have the Agility stat. Speed really isn''t his forte."


    "Then what''s he supposed to do?"


    "Well... something like that, I guess," Modak looked over at Maximus with a slight laugh. During one of the attacks, he had managed to hold onto Lightspeed. Ryan was actually a bit disappointed; Lightspeed was fast, but its movement was insanely straightforward. It almost felt like some kind of trap; but no, Maximus was able to grab onto Lightspeed''s arm, and the robot wasn''t able to escape.


    It was fast, but not strong; during the flurry of attacks that it threw at Maximus after he activated his Knight''s Guard skill, the Maximus'' ''health'' only dropped by another twenty points. As he held onto Lightspeed, who was continuing to throw jabs at the knight''s head and body, Ryan pulled back his arm as Maximus copied his movements.


    With a swift and targeted punch, Maximus punched Lightspeed''s torso. Since most of the focus seemed to have been put on speed, the robot very quickly received a lot of damage from the attacks, and had seemingly no hope of escaping. Maximus was strong; he had the strength of a grown man in that small body of his. And while these magically engineered robots were also particularly powerful, they were still weaker than Maximus.


    And so, the battle ended with a couple more hits.


    Lightspeed - 0 | Maximus - 59


    Once Lightspeed''s points reached zero, Maximus immediately let go and stepped back. He gave Lightspeed a quick nod before returning to Ryan''s side.


    Modak and Silvia came up to Ryan, "Congrats! That went pretty well!" the elf said excitedly, patting Ryan on the back.


    "I guess," Ryan replied, frowning lightly as he looked at Kit, who was currently picking up Lightspeed to inspect the Robot''s body. A bit annoyed, Ryan walked toward Kit, "Is this a good way to get data for you? By underestimating us?"


    The Minogid turned toward Ryan and just looked up at him with a blank stare, "I did not underestimate you."


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Then why didn''t you use Lightspeed''s ''gimmick''?"


    Kit looked up at Ryan silently, as if he was trying to think about how to best respond, but Silvia seemed confused and spoke up, "What do you mean? Isn''t the gimmick its speed?"


    "No way," Ryan shook his head immediately, "They''re trying to show off to big tech companies, there''s no way this is all it is."


    Ryan''s gut told him so. There was no way it was as simple as that. Just a somewhat fast Duellist? Those were a popular thing even in the old TV show, and there were ones that were clearly faster than Lightspeed. Maybe it was just Ryan not wanting today to end up being as boring as that ''fight'' just now, if it could even be called that. Kit walked back over to his podium, "I don''t have to tell you."


    "Fine. But in the next one, use that gimmick already. You only get two more tries," Ryan turned around and walked back to the other side of the ''arena''. Modak and Silvia were looking at him with concern the whole time.


    "You sure you''re okay?" Modak asked, worried about how aggressive Ryan was being.


    Sure, he always had a somewhat short fuse, but today was particularly concerning. Obviously, he knew why; that encounter with Simon annoyed him, and it was understandable. Modak was also angry just having heard about it. But being angry at Simon or Bluesky in general for acting like that was one thing; directing that anger at other, completely unrelated people was another.


    Ryan looked at his friend, and briefly nodded, "I''m fine."


    "You don''t seem like it," Silvia said bluntly, something that Modak wasn''t able to get out.


    Unable to hold back a groan, Ryan shrugged and slightly threw up his arms, "What do you want me to do? I can''t just stop myself from feeling pissed off."


    "Yeah, but that''s also not the fault of anyone here."


    "..." Ryan looked back at Silvia, locking eyes with her. He knew she was right, but it was a bit embarrassing to admit now that it''s been pointed out, "Yeah, yeah, I guess so... I''ll try to calm down a bit."


    "Great!" A broad grin formed on Silvia''s face, turning to Modak smugly. The orc smiled approvingly.


    For now, Ryan and Maximus had to wait. They were ready to go again right away. So that the Duellists didn''t end up too damaged, the value of the points each one had was actually pretty low, so it was really just a light tussle in the end. But of course, just to be safe, the robots had to actually be inspected. If any issue did pop up, it should be remedied as quickly as absolutely possible.


    "What do you guys think?" Ryan looked at his friends, specifically Modak. He should have some unique insights.


    After thinking about it for a moment, Modak glanced over at Lightspeed, "Honestly? I''m not sure. But I do agree that there''s definitely going to be more to this. Those lines on the outside of Lightspeed''s legs are crystal fibres. There''s probably going to be a high mana output, but I''ve got no idea what that will look like. Crystal fibres are usually used defensively, so it could be some kind of barrier?"


    "That''s it?" Ryan replied, a little disappointed. A barrier would make it all quite straightforward, and that wasn''t bad in and of itself, but Ryan was hoping for some more unique things here after the duel with Richie and Roxie. But then again, Richie was a Technomancer. Maybe he shouldn''t expect the same thing from him as from the others.


    Either way, it was still a good experience for him and Maximus. The most important part right now was figuring out good ways to work together; to maximize their combined powers. Maximus was good at fighting, but Ryan still had a long way to go in really *thinking* about fighting. He had the opportunity to oversee fights in ways that Maximus couldn''t, so he should make as much use of that as possible.


    "Let''s continue," Kit called out to Ryan, who quickly turned around. There were only a little more than 3 minutes on the spirit link skill, so this was good timing.


    Ryan and Maximus stepped back up to the Arena, and without another word, Kit started up the countdown. While he didn''t exactly mind that he didn''t make a fuss, Ryan almost felt like Kit didn''t care about his presence at all.


    ''Let''s just get this over with,'' Ryan thought to himself. Before the round even started, Maximus entered a defensive stance while Ryan kept track of where Lightspeed was moving. Just like before, the moment the countdown hit zero, the robot closed the distance.


    Since it moved in a straightforward way, Ryan kicked forward his leg which was quickly translated over to Maximus. The knight''s foot impacted on Lightspeed''s body; or, it was supposed to.


    But Lightspeed wasn''t running with the intent to attack Maximus. Instead, it jumped right before getting too close. It reached high into the air, getting up to Ryan''s eye-level. Once at its highest point, it twisted around, and kicked the air. And it hit something.


    Lightspeed was pushed down after kicking off some invisible force. A few more times, the robot jumped off other spots in the air and maneuvered around Maximus.


    "What the hell?" Ryan muttered to himself, while Maximus started moving around the arena to get further away from Lightspeed, but the robot simply landed nearby, seemingly not aiming for Maximus at all. That was just a test-run.


    Ryan stared deeply at Lightspeed, waiting for any sort of movement. And then, the robot leaned forward and once more started running at Maximus. This time, the knight ran forward as well to hopefully close the distance in case Lightspeed jumped up again.


    Trying to jab at Lightspeed once he got into range, Ryan made Maximus push his arm forward, but the robot was almost pushed out of the way. As if it jumped off an invisible wall next to it, Lightspeed very suddenly dodged to the right, and its body twisted around. It once more seemed to create a foothold to use the strength of its whole body to strike at Maximus. The knight''s helmet was struck perfectly, as Lightspeed built up distance again.


    Lightspeed - 100 | Maximus - 86


    Compared to the last round, Kit and Lightspeed might as well have been fully replaced. Though he hadn''t noticed it himself until now, but Ryan''s heart was beating strong in his chest. This was a duel to get excited about.


    Ryan directed Maximus to move away, but Lightspeed was much faster. It closed the distance immediately, deploying barriers underneath its feet for just a moment to jump off from, navigating around Maximus at a speed that neither Ryan nor the knight were able to keep up with. It almost felt like losing track of a fly as it buzzed around the room. Having both the view from Maximus and his own inside his head was making things even harder for Ryan.


    However, even so, Ryan was able to at least tell Maximus where to move to dodge and prevent much more damage. Lightspeed did scrape by the knight a few times, carefully whittling down at his points.


    Just for a moment, Ryan glanced over at Kit. His eyes were focused on Lightspeed, but... he seemed bored. Bored by this fight as though he was just going through a routine that he couldn''t wait to finish.


    Of course, that didn''t mean that he was underestimating Ryan and Maximus. Kit probably just wasn''t as into the fighting aspect of Power Duels as he was about creating the actual Duellist. And it made sense; they were all working hard toward making something they could show off tomorrow when all those company reps came here. While Ryan was also trying to use this to get better used to his abilities in a combat setting, if he didn''t find this exciting and fun, he would have just found another way. They were here for completely different reasons. Ryan knew that.


    But he was still annoyed.


    The Spirit Link skill only had another minute or so until its effect would run out. Lightspeed jumped around Maximus, without giving either the knight nor Ryan the opportunity to react. Maximus was slow, his focus was on power and defence. He wouldn''t be able to catch up to Lightspeed, no matter what he did. But he didn''t have to catch up. He just had to stand in Lightspeed''s way.


    Ryan''s eyes closely followed the robot. Around its feet, small glisters of thin rainbow hues appeared and disappeared, as if soap bubbles burst the moment they came to be. Lightspeed kept jumping around, striking at Maximus as he was practically fleeing from the flurry of attacks.


    But then, Ryan tensed his muscles for a moment, as Maximus was prompted to just stop moving. For about a second, Maximus just stood there, unmoving, until Ryan raised his arm to the side.


    And just then, the impact came. Lightspeed ran into Maximus'' arm, its upper body forcefully halted while its lower body kept moving, flipping it around violently. It hit the ground after making half a turn. Before it could push itself up, Maximus grabbed one of its legs, and with a swift motion that the knight mimicked from Ryan, Lightspeed was pulled into the air before Maximus slammed it back into the ground like a hammer. Of course, pulling his punches so that Lightspeed wouldn''t be actually damaged. Ryan glanced at the monitor.


    Lightspeed - 4 | Maximus - 43


    As Ryan looked at the screen, he noticed a system window popped up in the corner of his eye, but he couldn''t concentrate on that right now. He quickly struck back at the ground, and Maximus hit the middle of Lightspeed''s chest, ending the battle.


    Ryan looked at Kit, who was just stood there, staring at Lightspeed. He hurried over to the robot and quickly picked it up, sighing a breath of relief when he saw at that it was fine. Kit glanced at Ryan and the two locked eyes, before the Minogid quickly averted his gaze and moved back to his podium to inspect Lightspeed more closely.


    But Ryan didn''t even care about Kit''s reaction. He had no idea why, but Ryan just knew when exactly he had to hold his hand out there. Like some deep instinct that he couldn''t hold back. And then, Ryan looked at the system message that had appeared in front of him.


    <hr>


    [Your Intuition has increased by 0.01]

 23 - Instinct or Precision

    Ryan stared at the system window. His intuition had increased. But... how? The established method for increasing intuition was by trying to sense mana and increase your magical sensibilities. It definitely wasn''t just through some fighting. Did his ''Intuition'' stat present different to others? That kind of thing could happen. The exact ways that stats presented had slight differences across individuals and classes, and rarely, they affected the user in more unique ways.


    Considering that Ryan had a unique class, maybe that was a possibility to consider. Whichever the case, Ryan really didn''t mind. If he could boost his intuition just through fighting, then that was nothing but a benefit to him.


    Ryan squatted down in front of Maximus, taking a closer look at the knight. There were scratches covering his armour. Nothing major, but at this rate, these scratches were going to stack up.


    "Want me to fix you up a bit?" Ryan asked, and Maximus looked down at his body. He shook his head, pointing over at Kit and Lightspeed. Ryan glanced over and slowly nodded, "Right, I guess we should wait for the last round to be over... But are you alright? You''re not hurt or anything?"


    Quickly, Maximus shook his head again and Ryan sighed a breath of relief. The connection from the Spirit Link skill didn''t really tell him all too much; he could tell what it was that Maximus was seeing and hearing, and he could feel the impacts from Lightspeed''s attacks earlier. But there was no pain. And Ryan didn''t know if that was because of the nature of the skill, or because Maximus didn''t feel any pain to begin with. He was a spirit, and the armour was his body. Since Ryan could feel the impacts in the first place, Maximus clearly could sense touch through the armour, at least.


    "Are you gonna be fine fighting on your own in the last round?" Ryan asked, though he already knew the answer to that. Maximus was a great fighter; rather, he was probably a better fighter than Ryan.


    When Ryan fought, he did so with tricks and instinct and without hesitation. He used whatever he could, improvising along the way. But Maximus was different. He fought with precision and a plan. Most of the time while he was in his Domain, he was training his techniques on the straw dummy. Ryan never even saw him try to sleep, even though he had a bed in there.


    Ryan stood back up and walked over to Modak and Silvia.


    "That was over quick," Silvia pointed out, "But also, wasn''t that just so cool? Lightspeed was basically flying!"


    Modak slowly nodded, seemingly deep in thought, "Yeah... so Kit was using the crystal fibres to deploy barriers for a foothold? I didn''t realize that was possible... I''ll have to ask him about that later, that''s fascinating."


    "You know him?" Ryan raised his brow. He found that barrier-foothold interesting as well, but he didn''t care about it all too much from a technical perspective.


    Modak slowly nodded, "Yeah, I know everyone here. They''re all in the Magic Engineering course. Kit is a second-year, he''s the teacher''s aide for one of my maths classes."


    "Huh," Ryan turned around and glanced at the Minogid, before whispering to Modak, "Is he always like... that?"


    Not sure what exactly Ryan was talking about, Modak looked over at Kit as well, "Like what? I guess he was a bit more quiet than normal, but he put a lot of work into this project, so he''s concentrating, right?"


    Silvia looked at her friends and let out a long sigh, "Guys, he''s anxious. All of them are."


    Ryan thought about it for a moment, "What, he''s anxious about doing well tomorrow or something?"


    "What? No, he''s anxious about fighting you, dumbass," Silvia let out a long sigh, "Everyone here knows about you. And rumours tend to be exaggerated. People call you the ''Knight in Scuffed Up Armour''. You''re not known to... hold back. They''re all clearly worried about you damaging their Duellists or getting mad. I mean, you''re basically shadow-boxing right behind Maximus, that''s not necessarily a calming view."


    Was that it? Were these guys... scared of Ryan? It certainly wasn''t impossible. As he looked around the room, he locked eyes with one of the club members momentarily. They immediately averted their gaze, actually turning their whole body away from Ryan.


    ''Oh gods, they''re actually scared of me?'' Ryan''s stomach sank. His attitude as he came in here earlier probably didn''t help with that either. Letting out a loud, involuntary groan, Ryan rubbed his eyes.


    "Should I, like, talk to them about it? Try to get them to... not be scared?"


    "I don''t think they''re actually scared of you. Richie said that the only people you''d be ''duelling'' are the ones that agreed to do that, right? And clearly they all agreed," Silvia pointed out, "They''re probably just a bit on edge, you know?"


    Ryan scratched the side of his neck, "I guess you''re right... Man, this is annoying. Should I go on some kind of massive ''I''m not scary'' campaign?"


    "I think that could make it a little worse," Modak pointed out, "But really, the moment people actually get to know you, it''s fine. We''ll be spending all day with everyone here. That''s a good opportunity to mingle, right?"


    "Yeah... yeah, you''re right. Sorry, today''s already been a weird day," Ryan admitted, taking a long, deep breath to calm himself down a bit. Right around then, Kit seemed to be ready to continue. The Spirit Link skill had already been deactivated automatically and had around half an hour of cooldown left until he could activate it again, so this whole fight was going to be handled just by Maximus. Ryan''s only task was going to be to press the buttons on the tablet in case Maximus used either of his active skills.


    Ryan walked back over to the podium, leaning onto it. Kit glanced over at him as well and the two locked eyes, before Kit quickly looked back away and activated the countdown. Ryan sighed lightly, looking over at Maximus.


    "You good to go?" Ryan asked, and the knight briefly turned around and nodded, continuing to stretch before the last round against Lightspeed started.


    "What are you doing?" Kit asked, as the countdown reached zero. He saw that Ryan didn''t seem to have the intention to ''control'' Maximus any more.


    "Hm? Oh, I''m just letting Max do his thing," Ryan replied, as if it were obvious. At the same time, he was trying to sound a little more friendly than he did before, forcing himself to smile, although he wasn''t really in the mood, "I was using a skill for the first two rounds that let me and Maximus sort of ''sync up'' for a bit. But now he''s just doing his own thing."


    Kit looked at Maximus seemingly surprised. It was one of the first times that he didn''t have that tensely blank expression on his face. At that point, Ryan realized that none of these people had seen Maximus fight without Ryan being directly involved through a Spirit Link.


    "Don''t worry, this data will be useful for you guys too. Now, get started, alright? Max is looking bored," Ryan pointed out. The knight was stood on his side of the arena, patiently waiting for Kit to be ready despite the countdown already having reached zero.


    And though he seemed a bit hesitant, the Minogid looked back at Lightspeed to get started. And then, the robot shot forward. Maybe even faster than before. And this time around, it really wasn''t holding back with those barrier-jumps either. As if Kit was trying to confuse Maximus with complicated movements, it jumped up and down and left and right, moving around the knight at high speeds.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    But no matter what Kit tried, this time around, Lightspeed never hit Maximus. He tried, of course, but Maximus didn''t get the slightest scratch on him. With careful, precise steps and twists of his body, the knight simply stepped out of the way no matter what Kit tried. It didn''t matter what; Maximus dodged it all with relative ease.


    And, throughout it all, Maximus wasn''t only looking at Lightspeed. Others probably couldn''t tell, but Ryan did. Maximus was regularly glancing at Kit. He was listening to the sound of the keyboard keys clattering and the taps on the touchscreen of the tablet. It was like he knew exactly what sound corresponded to what movement, filling in the gaps that he couldn''t gather just from looking at Lightspeed alone.


    Of course, it was an impressive sight in the first place. The only strikes that Maximus allowed were minimal and light, seeped with purpose behind it. He did end up losing a bit of health, though, along the way. That was, until Maximus finally activated his ''Knight''s Attack'' skill. Ryan almost didn''t manage to press the button on the tablet on time before Maximus threw a precise punch forward as he dodged backward, striking Lightspeed in the head.


    It might have looked similar to what Ryan had done earlier. It was the same outcome, really. Both times, Lightspeed''s movements had been predicted. But while Ryan did so basically on pure instinct, Maximus predicted it by simply realizing Lightspeed''s movement patterns and knowing that if Kit did certain things on his keyboard, it was going to lead to specific reactions in the robot.


    It was much more technical and... impressive.


    Lightspeed fell to the ground, but quickly recovered. In that time, Maximus had closed the distance and glanced at the monitor for just a moment.


    Lightspeed - 90 | Maximus - 73


    Ryan noticed that the punch, despite the activation of Maximus'' skill, didn''t actually do that much damage. But it didn''t take him long to realize why.


    Maximus struck at Lightspeed once more before it could properly recover. It was a light strike, just as before, but it brought the robot down to 80 points exactly. As Kit maneuvered it around Maximus, trying to attack however it could, the knight kept on striking instead. And each time, Lightspeed''s points were reduced by exactly 10 points. And at the same time, Maximus never struck the same place twice. The first targeted the head, the second the shoulder. Then the hip, the chest, the back. It didn''t take Ryan long to know what Maximus was doing. He was giving Kit precise ''data'', as if trying to make this duel worth it for the Minogid.


    And before long, Lightspeed''s points dropped to zero.


    Kit silently lifted his hands from the keyboard, staring at his robot. He walked up to it, and Ryan felt like he seemed maybe a bit dejected.


    With an inward sigh, Ryan walked up to Kit, "Hey, good job! Those barrier footholds were crazy cool."


    Kit glanced up at Ryan as he slowly grabbed Lightspeed, "... Thank you. I did not expect that we would be beaten this easily."


    "I mean... You don''t really play fighting games, do you?"


    "I prefer strategy games," Kit responded carefully.


    "Exactly. Maximus and I know how to fight, it''s kinda our thing. But for you, you had to control Lightspeed as if you were playing a game you weren''t used to. That''s not a great match-up, right?"


    Kit looked up at Ryan, hesitating to respond, "I appreciate that. But whichever the case, this was quite insightful. Exactly as you said, the way you and... Maximus, was it? Anyhow, the way you two moved and fought was different to how Duellists can. I appreciate the help."


    Ryan shook his head, lightly smiling. But compared to before, it was a bit more genuine, "Nah, man, we''re getting something out of this too. I awakened like... a week and a half ago? This is amazing practice. I should be the one thanking you."


    He was silent for a few more moments, but soon, Kit held his hand forward, "Thank you for the Duel, Ryan."


    "Of course."


    The two shook hands, as Modak and Silvia came up behind them.


    "Kit, just how the hell did you make that work? Don''t barriers usually move with the deployment conduit? That''s like... lifting yourself up," Modak''s curiosity immediately came over him. And Kit didn''t hesitate to mirror that energy.


    He held Lightspeed up, running his fingers over the crystal fibres on its legs, "I use fibres to actually manifest the barrier, but the actual conduit is inside a magnetic tube inside the leg. The conduit is shot up at the moment of deployment, and since a barrier isn''t physically but magically connected to the conduit, it can provide enough resistance and leverage for Lightspeed to jump off."


    "Right, I see..." with a curious grin, Modak took a closer look at the Duellist, "How does that translate to a higher scale?"


    "... Not well, but it''s theoretically possible if the barrier''s formula is changed and a stronger power-source is used. Neither of which I could do with the resources I have."


    "Ah... yeah, mana output is always a weird thing. I''m working on my own small project right now, and I struggled a bit to find the right thing."


    "Oh? What is it you''re working on?"


    As Kit and Modak continued talking about some very technical things that went far over Ryan and Silvia''s heads, the two decided to step to the side. It was time for the next to people to start their ''duel'' in this spot, so they had to move anyway.


    Silvia looked down at the small knight that Ryan was carrying around, "So... Maximus is actually pretty strong, huh?"


    "You kidding? Maximus is ridiculous. If he were our size, even with the stats he has right now, he''d dominate the lower Awakened League," Ryan scoffed smugly. Maximus averted his gaze, almost embarrassed at what Ryan had just said.


    With a smile, Ryan pulled open his backpack''s zipper. But he also noticed Silvia''s expression, and looked at her with a raised brow, "What? Do I have something on my face?"


    "No, no, you''re fine," Silvia replied immediately, "I just thought that your mood improved pretty quickly."


    "... Shut up," with a click of his tongue, Ryan pulled out his father''s wooden box out of his backpack.


    "What did you bring that for?"


    Ryan turned to Silvia with a smug grin, "Just watch."


    After quickly opening the box, a number of tools were revealed. But the one that Ryan pulled out was none other than the silken handkerchief. It had deeply intricate patterns embroidered on it, and in two of the corners, on each side, a cursive ''A'' was written. And then, all those patterns slowly lit up as Ryan activated his ''Spirit Construction'' skill, just as the patterns on the clippers did. As Ryan had found, everything inside that box was a tool that reacted to the Spirit Construction skill somehow; even the needles. He didn''t find the use for all of them yet, but maybe he would at some point. Whichever the case, Ryan looked at Maximus with a smile, as the Spirit slowly held his arms to the side and lifted his chin up. Ryan carefully ran the handkerchief over the scratched-up metal plates on Maximus'' chest, and the scratches seemed to fade. Almost as if Ryan was using an eraser to get rid of mistakes on a pencil sketch.


    "Huh?" Silvia watched curiously.


    "It''s cool, right? It doesn''t look like Maximus can repair his body on his own, so ''upkeep'' seems to be one of my tasks," Ryan explained, "I ended up playing around with the skill a bit while building models the past couple days. I was wondering if it would make any difference, but it didn''t, so I ended up trying some other things, and found out that this worked."


    "... And how does it work? Are you, like... shaping the metal? Like smoothing clay or something?" Silvia wondered, but Ryan was quickly able to deny that.


    "It''s nothing like that, no. So, apparently spirits are like fully made of magic, right? And that seems to be the case with Maximus as well, just that his body is a bit different to most other spirits. But it''s still magic in the end. I think I''m maybe just filling in the gaps with ''new materials''? Either way, it''s pretty neat, and I feel like I''m getting a better-"


    In the middle of his sentence, Ryan felt a deep cramp in his shoulder and his whole body tensed up, "Oh shit, gods-fucking-" he groaned loudly, letting go of the handkerchief and stepping away from the table that had been pushed up against the wall that him and Silvia were standing at.


    In a panic, Silvia looked around, unsure what to do, "A-Are you-"


    "All good, don''t worry, it''s just..." Ryan held his shoulder as he started to carefully move it around, "I haven''t been able to move my shoulder around a lot so it''s been getting super stiff. I think I overdid it a bit earlier. The doc said to stretch a bit when this happens, but it''ll settle down soon, don''t worry."


    Ryan continued to stretch, moving his arm around. However, maybe it was because the only one really focusing on him was Silvia, or because he forgot that the shirt he was wearing was kind of old and shrunk down in the wash before, making it a bit shorter than normal, but he didn''t pay too much attention to what others were able to see.


    As his shirt slightly lifted, revealing part of his belly and back, Silvia''s eyes widened. She stared at her friend''s lower back, not sure if she was seeing right.


    Ryan turned around a moment later, looking Silvia in the eyes. Almost immediately, he realized what happened, pulling down his shirt. A little awkwardly, Ryan grabbed his jacket and put it back on, even though it was a bit warm in this room. Silvia was just watching silently.


    Ryan nervously looked away, "I... I''ll tell you about it later. Just not right now, okay?"

 24 - Roxie

    Ryan was seated on the edge of one of the desks, watching everyone get ready again. They had just taken a bit of a longer break, now that half of the Duels had all been fought. Just from those six duels, Ryan learned a lot of things.


    All the Duellists were unique, and as Richie had said, they all had their own gimmicks. There was one that detached its limbs from its body, letting them move around independently. Another that flew with thin butterfly-like wings. By now he had either fought them himself, or got to watch them fight other duels while Ryan and Maximus were taking a break, and Ryan couldn''t wait to get his turn. It was all so impressive.


    There was only one person that he hadn''t seen fight yet. Rather, that person wasn''t even here right now. This person called ''Vanda'', who had already been pushed to the back of the turn order, but was still running late.


    "Hey, everyone," before the first duels post-break were to start, Richie made a short announcement, "So, Vanda is on her way, there was an emergency she had to take care of. She''ll be here in around ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Because she''s a bit late, it''s probably going cause some issues with the duel order, so anyone that doesn''t have the time, or simply doesn''t want to, stay later to get their turn with Vanda''s Duellist is obviously free to leave at any point."


    Ryan glanced down at his phone to check the time. 3pm. Silvia and him didn''t have anything to do today, and even Modak didn''t have work, so they could all stay here until basically the end. Though, ever since earlier, Silvia''s been kind of on-edge. It felt a bit uncomfortable to Ryan, but he also understood why she reacted as she did. It wasn''t the kind of thing you saw every day. Maybe she wanted to leave earlier, maybe she was going to stick around. Either way, Ryan wanted her to do whatever she felt was right. Though, it did mean that him and Silvia were stuck in an awkward silence while Ryan tried not to let his mind run too far with what Silvia could possibly be thinking about.


    Modak wasn''t here to fill up this awkward air either; he was busy talking with the club members about their projects, and even showed off his ''Magic Cassette'' to them.


    Before long, finally breaking the silence, Richie came up to Ryan, "Are you ready to go?"


    "Hell yeah, we are," Ryan replied with a broad grin, pushing himself off the edge of the table, "I''ve been watching your duels the whole time, looks like you improved Roxie a bit since last time."


    "Just some fine-tuning," smugly, Richie turned around, quickly walking to the ''arena'' for this duel, "I''ve been watching you two as well, you''ve got a pretty damn good win record going."


    Ryan smiled lightly, for a moment focusing on Maximus as he sat in the domain, getting ready to come out, "Yeah, I guess so," he agreed. Ryan and Maximus had won most of the fights, with a only four total rounds being taken from them so far. Once they got used to the gimmick of the specific Duellist, they were able to react pretty quickly and figure out some ways to beat the duellist.


    As the duel was about to start, Maximus quickly stepped out of the domain, getting into the position on his side of the arena.


    "Ready?" Richie asked, putting on those special Technomancer gloves of his. Ryan quickly nodded, activating his Spirit Link skill. It actually levelled up once today, just before that longer break earlier.


    <hr>


    [Spirit Link]


    [Level - 4] [Proficiency - 4%]


    [Allows for the user to mentally link with the target Spirit, guiding their actions. During the activation period, the user has an extremely strong understanding of the target Spirit''s body and the effect of their skills]


    [Effect - Spirit Link for 11 Minutes]


    [Cost - 10.75 MP] [Cooldown - 40 Minutes 30 Seconds]


    <hr>


    It wasn''t a massive difference, obviously. 20 more seconds for the effect, ten more seconds for the cooldown, and a slight increase in the mana cost. There also seemed to be a bit of an improvement in the actual ''Link'' between Ryan and Maximus, but he wasn''t sure if that was actually because of the skill or because he had spent all day very actively using it.


    The magical thread formed between Ryan and the spirit standing in front of him. Ryan glanced at the countdown, waiting for it to reach zero. And the moment it did, both Maximus and Roxie started moving. However, they didn''t run at each other, as was the case with a lot of other rounds and duels in general. Instead, they were both acting very cautiously. Roxie had extremely high power output and could move in ways that neither Ryan nor Maximus were really used to. Flying or jumping around mid-air even were things that you could gain some insight into, to a degree at least. But with Roxie, its movements could seem almost random at times as its momentum suddenly just changed completely. Whatever that thing that Richie was using to make this happen was, it was a ridiculous invention, and Roxie was an even more ridiculous application of it.


    Similarly, Richie was cautious of the pair in front of him because they were just good at fighting; there was not much more to say about it. The skill and control they showed during all the duels so far was something that really put Richie on edge, whether it was when Ryan was the one in control, or when Maximus was acting on his own.


    Maximus slowly crept forward, trying to close the distance between himself and Roxie. The problem with Roxie was that it could start moving at literally a moment''s notice. Richie could use his magic to manipulate the flow of energies throughout Roxie''s bodies with the help of that energy transformer inside of it. That meant that Roxie could reach sprinting speeds without a moment''s hesitation.


    Of course, at first it seemed a little confusing why exactly Richie was doing this; it was extremely wasteful, and you couldn''t sell any new inventions or applications to others if actually making use of them meant you needed to use technomancy. But the moment that Ryan heard that Richie already had a job lined up for after his graduation, things started to make sense.


    Different to all the other people in the club, Richie wasn''t trying to advertise anything with this project. He was really just trying to have fun. He didn''t have to worry too much about energy-efficiency, and he also didn''t need to create something marketable, and could just do whatever he wanted to.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Before long, Maximus and Roxie were close enough for a proper collision to happen any moment now. Ryan and Maximus decided to take the initiative.


    Ryan threw a punch forward and Maximus copied it perfectly. Roxie immediately blocked the attack, as a sudden jolt of movement practically pushed the robot out of the way. Maximus immediately closed the gap and struck at Roxie once more, but as the two came into contact, sparks flew around and Ryan could feel an electrical heat flowing through Maximus'' arm.


    While Roxie lost some points, so did Maximus, even if a bit less than the robot. Clearly, this was a type of fight that Ryan and Maximus had to be particularly careful of; even if they did everything right and Maximus was never hit, he would still take damage from the specific type of defence on Roxie''s body.


    "So annoying," Ryan muttered, a broad grin plastered on his face. What followed was a quick-paced exchange of attacks, all of which were relatively weak. It felt like both Ryan and Richie wanted to stretch the fight out as much as possible; if either Roxie and Maximus landed a couple strong hits on the other, the round would be over, and that was something neither side seemed to want to come all too soon.


    But what made things particularly rough for Ryan and Maximus was just the ridiculous ways that Roxie was moving. During the last fight earlier this week, that ''momentum cancelling'' was used on Roxie''s body as a whole. It would stop moving and then start moving and then stop and start; it was jarring, but it was something that still had some level of predictability because there were a limited number of things Roxie could do next. This time around, however, this seemed to have been applied to every small part of the robot''s body separately.


    While running around, its leg would suddenly stop moving, or its upper body would slow down while its arm sped up. These movements were erratic and almost seemed random, as if Richie was just having fun messing around. Of course, there were plenty of attacks mixed into the fray, but in the end, due to Maximus'' defensive capabilities, especially with his ''Knight''s Guard'' skill active, it wasn''t anything all too troublesome just yet. It was just that Maximus and Roxie were practically dancing around each other, hit after hit whittling down on each other''s points, until they both ended up with less than ten.


    Roxie - 8 | Maximus - 9


    It was to the degree that a single perfect hit could end the whole thing. Ryan and Richie glanced at each other, locking eyes for just a moment. And as they did, Roxie was suddenly pushed forward. When close enough, its body leaned backward, as if locked in space, while its lower body rapidly sped up and a kick was quickly directed at Maximus. The knight stepped back and returned a kick on his own. Their legs hit each other with a clang and sparks flew out.


    Roxie - 4 | Maximus - 3


    After the legs impacted and were bounced back, Ryan pushed forward his arm to have Maximus reach out to Roxie''s leg, using the momentum from his own leg being bounced away, but just before he could grab it, the leg suddenly stopped moving and seemed to change directions almost instantly. Ryan smirked lightly as Maximus'' other arm was already in the way of the new direction, hidden in Richie''s narrow blind spot right behind Roxie''s body. Maximus managed to grab the leg and lock it down, but sparks immediately flew as Maximus pulled at Roxie''s leg, forcing the distance to close one way or another, while throwing a punch.


    Simultaneously, the contenders snapped their heads toward the Monitor.


    Roxie - 0 | Maximus - 0


    "Wait, seriously? It''s a tie?" Ryan scoffed loudly, though he really wasn''t mad about it. It was a fun match, all things considered. Similarly, Richie didn''t seem to be upset about the outcome either.


    "Well, that''s some good data... I guess?" Richie laughed, quickly looking over at Ryan, "You ready for round two?"


    "Right away? Don''t you need to check on Roxie first?"


    "Already have. I can passively sense every type of electronic around me, and if I concentrate, I can look a bit deeper. And when I''m directly synced with it like with Roxie, I just know everything right away," Richie explained quickly, snapping his finger to reset the points on the monitor. Roxie also moved back to its initial position, and now the only one that had to make a choice was Ryan.


    He looked down at Maximus, locking eyes with him. He didn''t hesitate to nod.


    "Alright, sure. We''re good to go right again as well," Ryan replied, and Richie immediately started the countdown. The moment it hit zero, Maximus and Roxie started inching toward each other. Different to before, they had a good feeling for the other, and had less of a need to be this hesitant.


    This time around, the first strike came from Roxie. It was a simple jab that Maximus could easily dodge, but the distance was closed immediately. Roxie''s momentum stopped, but in return, its fist shot forward like a bullet, scraping by Maximus'' armour. However, the attacks weren''t boosted through electricity.


    ''So he''s just forcing the full body''s electricity into just the arm?'' Ryan thought to himself, trying to think about a way to react. And that was when the next jab came. Just then, Ryan threw up a punch on his own targeted at the underside of Roxie''s arm. Maximus broke the robot''s balance and moved in closer, almost not giving Roxie the opportunity to move back. Even if Richie created momentum for the robot, that momentum wouldn''t be fast enough to escape right away.


    Maximus reached out and grabbed Roxie''s shoulder, pushing down onto it to try and stop any further movement. Though a strike from Roxie came, Maximus had the opportunity to easily target the robot''s body. As he did, a large shock of electricity flowed through Maximus'' body as Roxie also grabbed the knight''s shoulder. It was like being tased, a massive flow of electricity shooting through his whole upper body. It didn''t hurt, but it felt quite bad for another reason.


    Either way, Maximus had to release and step back, but this time, Roxie closed the distance. Maximus tried to raise his arms to block, but something stopped him.


    A sudden jolt of confusion flowed through him as he felt something approach from behind. A familiar energy, together with a strong pull that forced Ryan and Maximus both to turn around immediately. This seemed to come from Maximus, but Ryan felt something else as well. In her domain, Gaia''s fragment was shivering.


    But all that he could see was a young Hobgoblin making her way into the room, sweat running down her face and heavy breaths making her chest rise and drop rapidly.


    "What the-" Ryan let out confused, but just then, Maximus was struck by Roxie, and it pulled the two of them back out of that sudden sensation. Ryan looked at Richie, "Sorry, but... I just... Is she a member?"


    Richie looked at Ryan confused, trying to understand why exactly he just interrupted the duel for no reason. He looked past Ryan and at the door, "Yeah, that''s Vanda, what about her? Come on, let''s just continue. Your skill doesn''t last that long, does it?"


    "I mean sure, but..." he had been completely taken out of the situation. He knew that there was something going on, but how the hell was this random girl supposed to have a fragment?


    Maximus seemed quite focused on the fragment as well, but after him and Ryan locked eyes for a moment, it seemed like he understood what Ryan wanted to do. He couldn''t just walk up to Vanda and demand the spirit core. After all, he had no idea what she was doing with it, or why she even had it on her.


    ''I mean, the last one was inside a dungeon heart... something sketchy is going on, so I need to be careful'', Ryan thought to himself. A spirit core''s fragment wasn''t the sort of thing you could just find laying around on the street. Obviously he wanted to just demand it from her right this second, but that seemed far too risky.


    Before continuing the round, though, he looked inward. He looked at the fragment of Gaia, floating in the middle of her domain, ''I''m sorry... I''ll get you fixed up soon, but I can''t be rash. I hope you understand''.


    With anxiety welling up in his stomach, Ryan looked back at the gnome across from him. He took a deep breath, and got ready to continue.

 25 - The Gift

    The dim violet light illuminated the otherwise dark space, filled with smoke and the powerful scent of sweet fruit. A man leaned back against the mountain of pillows stacked up behind him. The deep black lower body of the lamia was wrapped around the table in front of him. He pulled in a deep breath of the flavoured smoke, holding it in for a few moments before streams of white flowed from his nostrils.


    The man kept sitting there, enjoying his time in peace, when someone else walked up and took a seat next to him.


    "What do you want?" the lamia asked, hissing at the one that just silently joined him. The man smiled lightly, though his swollen and red nose seemed a bit distracting.


    "Now, now, don''t be like that," the man replied with a laugh, glancing at the hookah stood between him and the lamia, "I''ve always been doing a good job, haven''t I?"


    "I''ll ask you again, Simon. What do you want?"


    The elf''s smile dropped, and he leaned back into the seat before crossing his legs, "Ryan Aglecard. He''s not who you told me he was, Mister Blanchard."


    Not sure what Simon was talking about, the lamia placed the hookah''s mouthpiece onto his lips, "I don''t know what you mean."


    "He may share their name, but he''s unrelated to the Aglecard foundation. We looked into him a bit more."


    "What are you saying?" Not sure what Simon was getting at, the lamia let out a long sigh, pushing out more smoke as he did so.


    The elf grabbed his bag and pulled out a laptop, which he quickly flipped open. The bright light overpowered nearly everything else, and as it was turned toward the lamia, he clicked his tongue annoyed, "You could have just told me with your words."


    He leaned forward and took a closer look at the information written in the file, "So? What about it?"


    "A cosy town over west, with a whole 20-thousand citizens. After the death of his father, an accountant at a small chair manufacturer, his mother raised him alone. She remarried for a short while, but her husband was soon arrested. She now works as an office manager at a company producing rubber ducks."


    The lamia read through the information to double-check it, and then looked back up at Simon, "Let''s assume that our information was wrong. What do you want us to do?"


    "... More information. Mere minutes after the registration had gone through, I was called and told to find a way to purchase this... ''Spirit Keeper'' class under any circumstances, but to be careful as he was a member of the ''Aglecard'' family. I need to know more about what this class is supposed to be."


    With a scoff, the lamia shook his head, "And why exactly should we tell you something like that? Just do what we pay you to do."


    "Because that man summoned something that could move even within one of my traps that should have made this impossible," Simon explained bluntly, "That thing just jumped at me and broke my nose. We have to know more."


    With a slow shake of his head, the lamia stared back at the elf, "No. You will not get to know more. I told you to do everything you can to get that class. Whether it is through money, or violence, or hell, by making him fall in love with you!" slowly, the lamia began to lift his upper body, soon towering completely over Simon. His tail started to wrap around his body, slowly tightening around him, "You will get us that class! But the one thing that you will not do is make demands of me. Understood?"


    Simon stared up at the lamia, shivering anxiously. His eyes reflected the violet light of the nearby lamps, and his face was clearly twisted in anger. The white tattoos on his arms were practically interrupted by the furiously bulging veins all over them.


    Nervous and clearly filled with fear, Simon nodded his head, "I-I understand, but I- At the very least, we need more time, just..."


    Simon and the lamia locked eyes for a few moments, before the elf was released, "Fine. You have as long as you need. But if we don''t get that class... you know what''s going to happen, right?"


    "Of-Of course, Mister Blanchard..."


    Simon meekly started walking away, mostly unsuccessful in his attempt at getting more information from this man that sent a specific request to Bluesky. The Blanchard family were people that Bluesky couldn''t afford to disappoint, so they accepted without hesitation.


    "Gods-damned..." Simon clicked his tongue, pulling out his phone. He dialled some number and quickly held it against his ear. He waited for a few moments, rushing out of the hookah lounge, and spoke the moment someone on the other side accepted the call, "Gather your men. At midnight tonight, come to the address I''m about to send you."


    Back inside, the lamia settled back into his seat, an annoyed frown on his face, "How hard can it be to defend yourself against a damned spirit?"


    He looked down at the watch on his wrist, trying to use the dim light to read its face, "But speaking of... I should check up on Vanda. I need to make sure my little ''Gift'' does its job well tomorrow."


    Christopher smiled lightly, pulling out his phone. The idea of what must be going on right about now was very quickly lifting his mood.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan squatted down with a long sigh. He hadn''t been able to concentrate on the last two rounds against Richie and Roxie at all. It wasn''t a total failure, but it definitely wasn''t close to as satisfying for either side. Even the round where Maximus was fighting on his own, he was sluggish and clearly unable to concentrate on anything but Gaia''s fragment.


    "Are you okay?" Richie asked, with a concerned frown, "Is your shoulder acting up?"


    "... Something like that, yeah," Ryan replied. That was a good excuse, though it was clear that Richie knew something else was going on. He was sensible enough not to pry, though, and Ryan was quite happy about that.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "In that case, if you want to call it a day, you can-"


    "No, no, it''s fine! I just need to take a break, don''t worry," Ryan assured him, not wanting to leave just yet. He had to stay nearby and figure out what exactly this ''Vanda'' was doing with the fragment.


    Currently, she was setting up everything that she needed to start her first duel of the day, rushing to get ready. Ryan kept glancing over at her the whole time. Now that the ''Spirit Link'' skill wasn''t active anymore, he couldn''t sense the fragment on his own, but Maximus and the fragment already with Ryan definitely could.


    "Dude, what''s going on?" Modak knelt down in front of Ryan, "Are you alright?"


    He looked around to see who exactly might be able to overhear him, and slowly stood up. He asked Modak and Silvia to follow him outside the room, and the moment the door closed shut behind them, he started to explain.


    "She has one of Gaia''s fragments," Ryan explained immediately, and both Modak and Silvia were taken aback.


    "What? Who? And how, even?" Silvia asked. Ryan had filled them in on Gaia''s fragments before, but that being something that suddenly popped up here seemed just far too random.


    "That Vanda girl, I don''t know why or how, but she has a fragment on her. I can feel Gaia shivering in my head," not sure how to better explain it, Ryan tried to word it that way. But it was much more than just shivering. Gaia was practically crying, wanting to be reunited with another part of herself.


    Modak looked at the door, clearly unsure what to say to that, "I mean... can''t you just talk to her about it? She''s really nice, like... I''ve known her since before uni, we went to the same school. Her siblings are friends with mine, and... I can''t imagine her having any bad intentions, you know?"


    Able to tell that Ryan seemed to be assuming the worst, Silvia suggested something else, agreeing with Modak, "Right! What if she just... happened to pick it up somewhere?"


    Ryan considered it for a moment. His gut was telling him that there was more to it than her just having randomly found it, but he couldn''t say for sure that this wasn''t the case either.


    "So what, I should just ask her about it? ''Hey, do you happen to have a spirit core''s fragment somewhere on you?'' I doubt that''s going to work all too well," Ryan pointed out, and Modak thought about it for a little while.


    "I get why you''re nervous about it, considering where you found the first fragment, but... can you ''Link'' with Gaia''s core? I mean... maybe you''ll be able to figure out more? Like exactly where it is, and what Vanda''s doing with it," he suggested. Ryan raised his brows immediately, carefully thinking about the idea.


    "That... could work. It''s worth a try at least... but what if she won''t give the fragment to me? I can''t just steal it from her... can I?"


    "Let''s not worry about that for now," Silvia replied, trying to calm Ryan down a bit, "If she doesn''t want to give it to you, we can figure something out then. Let''s not resort to stealing, alright?"


    Ryan slowly nodded his head, "Yeah, alright. You''re right. Thanks, I''m just really... I don''t know, there''s just a ton going on today that''s kind of stressing me out, you know?"


    His gaze slowly wandered over to Silvia, and they locked eyes for a moment. Silvia looked away, and Ryan sighed inwardly, "Alright, let''s just... get in and wait? There''s another 20 minutes until I can use the skill again anyway."


    "Alright, I can try to talk to Vanda for a bit as well. She seemed a bit stressed earlier," Modak replied, and Ryan slowly nodded.


    "Right, of course, do that," he responded with a nod, pulling open the door. Since Vanda and Modak knew each other already, maybe his presence could calm her down enough that even if it came to the worst case scenario, it would help improve the situation a bit.


    The three stepped back into the room, and Modak quickly walked over to the hobgoblin, "Yo, Vanda, how are you doing?"


    "Oh, hi, Modak! Yeah, I''m fine, just a bit stressed... sorry about the other day, by the way, I kind of pushed my way through you guys and didn''t even say hello," she replied, setting up her Duellist to get it ready, while Modak just shook his head.


    "All good, I could tell you were busy. Honestly, it looked like you didn''t even see us properly," Modak pointed out, "You were already gone by the time I realized it was you as well."


    "Yeah... I really should pay more attention to what''s going on around me sometimes," she pointed out, carefully glancing past Modak over toward Ryan, "So your friend is the one that awakened? I saw him and his... summon-thing during the duel earlier. I guess they''re not used to things yet?"


    Modak wasn''t sure exactly what to reply. Clearly, Ryan and Maximus were acting off because of the fragment Vanda had on her, but that wasn''t something he could just tell her, "He''s had a pretty bad day, I guess. He''s a great fighter, usually."


    "...Clearly not good enough to get a physical class, right?" she pointed out very bluntly. Modak noticed that she seemed a lot more confident around Modak than she did around most of the club members, though that could probably just be attributed to the fact that they''ve known each other for years now. And clearly, through some kind of miracle, Vanda didn''t know about Ryan yet. So, he figured that he shouldn''t mention it.


    "Well, what about you? You happy with your Duellist?" Modak asked, slowly trying to move the conversation away from Ryan. The hobgoblin grinned smugly and quickly looked down at the small robot in front of her.


    "Happy? I''m ecstatic. I was struggling so much to get this to work. So, I''m using both electricity and mana to get this to work, right? I''m intertwining them together, and because I need the mana to function in a specific way, I had to overcompensate with a ton of it. So I wasn''t able to get the right mana source, until just earlier this week."


    Modak''s stomach dropped as he listened to her words, "Mana source? Like, a really good battery?"


    "Hm, something like that? You know how there are types of crystals that just hold a ton of mana?"


    "...Yeah, but those are really expensive, aren''t they?"


    "Well, sure... and don''t tell this to anyone, but I met this guy recently, he''s really nice and we''ve become really close friends. When I told him about the Power Duel projects, and what exactly I was struggling with, he offered me this crystal. His family is apparently really well-off, like, old money well-off. And he just... gave it to me."


    Modak frowned in confusion. So someone else gave her the fragment? In exchange for... nothing? That felt off. Really, really, off, "So are you going to be paying him back or anything?"


    "Well... I''m going to try to? I can''t right now, obviously, but depending on how tomorrow goes, I might get some good job offers. Right now, all he asked for was to... try ''Energiser'' out before tomorrow. It''s part of why I was late, actually..."


    Modak glanced over toward Ryan. He seemed to be trying to concentrate on calming down, but was still glancing over here every once in a while.


    "So... this crystal, is it going to run out of mana anytime soon? You probably only have one, right?"


    "Oh, no, no, Energiser doesn''t use that much mana. The crystal should last for quite a while."


    "Do you think you''re still going to need it after the presentation tomorrow?" Modak asked, and Vanda raised her brow, confused.


    "I might, yeah. If they like Energiser and anyone wants me to show it to them again some other day, I''ll obviously need it then," she explained, "Why, do you need something like this as well?"


    "Not really, I do have something I''m working on, but I managed to get it to work pretty well already. Hold on, I actually have it with me," Modak pointed out, about to head over to his bag to get the Magic Cassette out again, but Vanda just shook her head.


    "My first ''duel'' is about to start, but I can take a look at it later. Oh, if you want you can look at some of my notes about ''Energiser'', though, here," Vanda pushed open her old and thick laptop that was already open to some documents and sketches.


    The hobgoblin quickly stepped away and moved over toward her ''arena'' together with her Duellist. Modak was going to take a look at the notes in a second, but for now, he had to tell Ryan, though he was nervous how he was going to react.

 26 - Energiser

    Modak walked up to Ryan and leaned closer toward him, cupping his hand by the side of his mouth as he whispered, "She''s... using the fragment as a battery."


    The orc could practically hear his friend''s heart skip a beat as he snapped his head toward him, "What? She''s doing what?" he asked, in full volume, but Modak quickly pulled him to the side.


    "Calm down, seriously. It looks like she doesn''t know what it is, someone else gave it to her," Modak explained, as Ryan tried to slow down his rapid breaths.


    "But... how can I just let her use Gaia like that? It''s not..." Ryan muttered, frowning deeply as he stared at the small robot stood at the edge of the taped-off arena. His role was to protect her, and letting this happen definitely didn''t feel like he was doing a very good job at that.


    "Just... wait it out, alright? Try to link with the core, and maybe... see how it... she''s doing? If she seems fine, then we can just calmly figure something out," Silvia suggested, trying to place her arm onto Ryan''s back but flinching back before she could, as if worried. He didn''t really notice this either.


    Ryan took a deep breath and nodded, "You''re right... you''re right."


    He looked at the other side of the duel area, seeing Kit standing across from Vanda. Lightspeed and Kit were going to be her first opponents. It seemed like most people that weren''t actively partaking in a duel were gathering to see Vanda''s Duellist, ''Energiser'', put into action. It was the only one that they hadn''t seen yet. Even the ones that were actively taking part in duels were peering over, almost wanting to take a quick break.


    One of the two club members activated the countdown, and both Kit and Vanda got ready. While Kit was using a combination of a keyboard and a tablet to control Lightspeed, Vanda seemed to be making use of a customized game-controller. It had more buttons and dials placed onto it, to the point where it seemed completely over the top and unusable, but Vanda seemed confident.


    The moment the countdown hit zero, Lightspeed shot forward to get to Energiser. Vanda''s Duellist, however, was just carefully walking forward, almost casually. Kit didn''t immediately have Lightspeed use the ''Jump Pads'' as he had dubbed them, but instead was just making use of its generally fast speed. It struck Energiser with a kick, and Vanda seemed to ''parry'' the attack with a swing of the robot''s arm. It honestly just seemed like a light tap, but Lightspeed was completely thrown away, unable to find balance against before dropping onto the ground. Kit seemed taken aback, but quickly recovered. Just like before, he stuck to his guns, and for the first round, didn''t use Lightspeed''s ''gimmick''.


    Lightspeed continued to try and attack Energiser, but it seemed almost impossible to get a good attack in. Energiser wasn''t moving fast, or rather much at all, but Vanda''s control over the robot was almost perfect. Parries, counter-attacks, they were all timed perfectly and Lightspeed didn''t seem to claim more than just a couple of points at time.


    However, on the opposite side, every single one of Energiser''s attacks, even if they just barely grazed by Lightspeed''s body, did an immense amount of damage and threw Lightspeed across the improvised arena, forcing it to close the distance just to repeat the same thing again. The power running through its body was ridiculous; almost impossible for what it was showing. But then, Ryan had a small hint of understanding why exactly that was.


    Energiser was not only strengthened through whatever methods Vanda had found, but also by the ''Garden Golem''s'' power. As Ryan understood it after talking to Maximus about it, part of their power and stats were inside their bodies; the ones that Ryan built for them. But another part of it, the part that actually grew stronger when Maximus levelled up, was within the Spirit Core. So while Energiser wouldn''t be able to use the full extent of that, some of Gaia''s stats were clearly flowing into Energiser''s body. It was like a mock version of what Ryan could do, giving Gaia a body to use. But it couldn''t be more different to the way that the ''Spirit Keeper''s'' method worked.


    Ryan could see threads of green mana flow out from Energiser''s body, though he knew nobody else could. It was Gaia''s mana that was being used to strengthen the robot''s body. The only reason he could see it was because he was already Gaia''s Keeper, even if he only held the first fragment thus far. But as Ryan looked at the mana, his stomach churched. These threads were supposed to flow beautifully, like the wind over densely grown tall grass.


    But these? These were tangled and cut, a mass of frayed ends. Just seeing them like this made Ryan feel like he failed.


    Today was not a good day for Ryan. He was already anxious to begin with, considering that tomorrow was the day that whatever Runar was dealing with was going down. Then, the bit of excitement he had while heading out to this exact event was immediately replaced with anger after he was attacked by Simon.


    Once he finally came here, he was met with the fact that most people in this room were scared of him. Not only that, but Silvia, one half of his best friends, saw his back and started acting distant immediately after. And now this. He couldn''t go a second without feeling Gaia shivering in his mind. If she could produce them, her tears would probably have already formed a puddle underneath the fragment currently in the domain.


    They weren''t tears of pain or anger; that was something that Ryan was sure of the more those emotions constantly filled his head. Instead, they seemed more like an immense sense of loss or fear that Gaia was experiencing, unable to handle with a fraction of her being. Honestly, all Ryan wanted to do was step into the arena and rip open that damned robot to just take the fragment; it was taking all he could to not just do that right now.


    Inside his head, the cooldown of the Spirit Link skill kept counting down, and he was clinging to each second, as if trying to speed it up. But of course, he couldn''t. He just had to wait. Ryan chewed on his lips nervously, tapping his foot impatiently, as if the activation of the skill would just fix everything magically.


    The duel continued on. It was a fairly simple win for Vanda and Energiser, and both sides quickly went to grab their Duellists to check up on them. Particularly, Kit was looking over Lightspeed with a bit of concern due to the strength of those attacks.


    In the meantime, as the break between the rounds continued, Modak started making his way back to Vanda''s laptop, reading through the notes that she took during her construction of Energiser. But Silvia stayed with Ryan.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "It''s going to be fine, don''t worry. It will all work out," she tried to reassure Ryan. Silvia knew what kind of person Ryan was. When he saw someone in trouble, he couldn''t hold back. It was basically ingrained in his DNA. Whether it was a service worker getting yelled at by an entitled asshole, or some kid being picked on, he always intervened in some way. Though of course, not always violently, but in more extreme cases, it did come to that. Silvia couldn''t imagine what exactly Ryan was experiencing right now.


    He slowly nodded his head, closing his eyes, "I hope so. Thanks."


    "...I''m sorry for how I was... you know, acting after..." Silvia slowly let out, not sure how to best word it. She was good at speaking most of the time, but this situation was different.


    Ryan turned his head and glanced at her, "It''s fine, I get it. It''s not really something you see every day. But... I won''t go into any details, but... they''re basically ancient, you know? They''re healed, they''ve faded as much as they''re going to, and they don''t hurt or anything. I forget about them most days now, it''s not like I can see them super easily. You''ve got nothing to be worried about."


    "...Alright. If you ever want to talk about it... even if not with me, I could ask my dad?"


    Ryan scoffed lightly and shook his head, "I''m fine, really. I''ve been in therapy about it for like ten years now. I do need to find a new one here, but..." he looked to the side, weirdly feeling calm while being distracted from the fragment, even if the topic that was distracting him was something as big as the scars covering his entire back. But then, he saw Silvia''s confused expression.


    Quietly, she let it out, concern, "Ten... years?"


    "...It''s a long story, obviously. Maybe some other time," Ryan replied, patting his friend''s shoulder. At least he didn''t feel any pity from her, though he couldn''t blame her, even if that had been what she felt.


    By the time the next round for Vanda and Kit started, there were only twelve minutes left on the cooldown of Ryan''s Spirit Link skill. Sometime during the last round, he should be able to activate the skill. Though for now, the second round itself had to finish.


    This time, as in every other duel until now, Lightspeed began jumping around on the barriers that it could create under its feet. It got a lot more hits in due to how unpredictable its movements had become, but even so, Energiser barely seemed to be taking much of any damage. High defence and high damage. That did certainly sound like a golem.


    While the battle was more drawn out than before, it did still end sooner or later; obviously. But that being the case, Vanda didn''t seem like she had really broken a sweat. As if she was only just getting started.


    The break between the second and third round was shorter than the first, as if both sides wanted to quickly return to the duel. Whether that was to save time or because they were both excited to continue was a bit unclear, though.


    Ryan took a deep breath. Just five more minutes and he could connect to Gaia''s fragment. Or at least, he could try.


    The last round of the duel started, and Lightspeed shot forward, once more jumping around wildly. However, Energiser was acting different to before. Vanda was getting more excited about this fight, and seemed to have started acting a bit different. Something had changed in Energiser; Ryan could see the threads of green mana change just so slightly. Larger lumps of knots but shorter distances between the cuts. And the moment Ryan seemed to recognize this, Energiser started to move. And fast. A speed that easily seemed to match Lightspeed, despite Energiser''s larger size and weight.


    And finally, Ryan realized why exactly the way the robot was moving had seemed familiar to him this whole time. It was a classic battle approach for Enhancers. Through their skills and ability to manipulate both aura and mana, they were able to intertwine the two energies into each other in specific patterns, boosting them in a number of ways.


    Strengthening their muscles or eyesight, improving their intelligence or even the effects of magic spells in some rare cases. And what happened to Energiser just now was that its body was a classic method of switching between different ''modes'', as they were referred to by many Enhancers. Going from strength to defence to speed within moments. Energiser was clearly something created to imitate the way that Enhancers fought.


    Frankly, it was impressive; clearly this was something that Vanda had worked very hard on. The only bad part was that she, apparently unknowingly, used Gaia''s fragment to make it all work. But it really didn''t matter what her intentions were. It didn''t matter how impressive it was. This was clearly like some kind of ridiculous torture for Gaia herself.


    Ryan was focusing back on the cooldown of the Spirit Link skill, but as he tried to, he noticed something else.


    The threads of mana seeping out from the cracks of Energiser''s body were starting to... change. Their colour was becoming muddy, as though they were soaking up the water of a dirty puddle. The more mana that was being used within Energiser and the more that this mana leaked out, connecting with the fragment of Gaia already with Ryan, the more that corruption seemed to spread.


    "Huh?" the confused mutter came from the other side of the room, from Vanda. She was fiddling with her controller, the way that you did when it stopped working. But despite that, Energiser kept moving, only much more erratic than before, as if its limbs were being jerked around by some other force.


    Its arms were being twisted around in an all too familiar way. It was the exact same thing that happened when Maximus settled into his new body. But... still different. It just felt completely wrong to Ryan, there was no other way to say it than that. Energiser kept moving forward toward Lightspeed. Kit was also able to tell that something was going on, and was looking at Vanda when it happened.


    Energiser grabbed Lightspeed. It wrapped its right hand around the other robot''s neck, and then began tearing its arm off its body.


    "Vanda, what are you doing?" Kit asked confused, trying to get Lightspeed out of Energiser''s grip.


    "I-I''m not doing anything, it''s-it''s doing that on its own!" she stuttered out a response. Vanda was trying to get the robot to respond to her input, but no matter what she did, it didn''t work.


    And then, Lightspeed''s arm was ripped off. Wires were exposed as the robot''s whole body started to spasm.


    "Vanda!" Richie yelled out, snapping his finger toward the two robots to try and take control. Energiser flinched for a moment, and the corrupted mana in the robot''s body seemed to all gather toward Richie. The threads began to climb through the air, toppling over each other to carry the corruption over to Richie. It happened too fast for Ryan to respond and stop it, and the corrupted mana crept up on the gnome.


    Richie fell to his knees, grabbing his head in pain, "Aargh!" he screamed loudly, clear physical pain in his voice. Everyone stared at him as Energiser continued. It threw Lightspeed to the side and proceeded to pull apart the arm. The metal plating was pressed on top of Energiser''s plates, while the wires wrapped around its limbs. Ryan watched the threads of mana break down the metal plates, pulling them into the rest of the body. It looked all too familiar to him; it was just like how the monsters in the Abandoned Copper Foundry looked and seemed to advance their bodies.


    At this point, Ryan didn''t hold back any more; he had to do what he could, and practically jumped at the robot. Similarly, Maximus tried running at it, though hesitant due to the nature of what was happening to it. But Energiser was too fast and small, and immediately jumped out of the way of either of them.


    With just a single leap, it reached the podium in front of Vanda, who was staring at her creation as it went berserk.

 27 - Corruption

    Vanda dropped the controller onto the ground as Energiser jumped onto it. Like a wild animal, it began to tear the piece apart, pressing any small piece it could onto its body. Wires and screws and even plastic. All of it was fused into its body in one way or another. However, as it did so, Ryan was able to grab it in the midst of its attempts.


    He wrapped his hands around it and tried to keep it tied down, but his palm was quickly cut up by the sharp edges of metal and plastic that were covering it now.


    "Fucking-" Ryan clicked his tongue, trying to persist through the pain. But the cuts weren''t all; Energiser was also strong, far stronger than anything of this size should be. Rather, the only thing that Ryan could think of that had similar strength at that size was Maximus. Gaia''s fragmented core seemed to be somehow reacting to this false ''body'' that had been created for it.


    He ended up dropping Energiser, but Maximus was already waiting down below. He caught the robot, holding onto the grooves of its body and quickly slammed it onto the the ground. For a little while, Maximus was successful at restraining Energiser, but Ryan was able to see something that he really, really didn''t like. The formerly bright green, now dark enough to be called black, threads of mana were wrapping around Maximus. Ryan had a bad feeling; and it was quickly confirmed.


    <hr>


    [A corrupting force is encroaching on Maximus]


    <hr>


    Without hesitation, Ryan forcefully pulled Maximus into his domain, scanning the spirit''s mana with his gaze. Some wisps of Maximus'' mana were dyed black, but as they touched Ryan''s skin, it was like a layer of oil or tar was scraped off. He could feel the corruption laying on his skin, like a living scab attempting to dig into his skin. But before he could even swat it away, it fell apart and disappeared, unable to live on without something to cling onto.


    Ryan had managed to save Maximus from the corruption, but at the same time, this led to Energiser being freed again. The ''possessed'' robot jumped up and immediately started running back around the room. None of the club members were able to catch it, no matter what they did; it was like trying to catch a mouse, but the mouse had sharp edges all over its body and the capabilities to break their hands with ease. Ryan couldn''t blame any of them from rather running away instead of actually attempting to catch it for more than a few moments.


    "Ryan, what''s happening?" Modak asked with deep confusion and concern. He was squatting down next to Richie, trying to help him out as he recovered from that pain.


    "I don''t- Something is corrupting Gaia''s fragment, and now it''s going wild! It''s trying to add anything it can to its body and grow stronger," Ryan warned the others.


    Richie, hearing what Ryan was saying but not understanding, glanced over to him. His eyes were completely bloodshot, "What do you mean¡­? What... fragment?" he forced out, and Ryan looked over toward Vanda with some hesitation.


    "The ''crystal'' Vanda used as a battery is the fragment of a Spirit Core, and now something is trying to corrupt the part of the Spirit left inside of it," he explained, though that was really all that he could tell them. He had no idea why this was happening, or what was corrupting Gaia. That didn''t seem like the kind of thing that could just happen from being used as a power source. There was something else that was affecting Gaia, Ryan was sure of it.


    Richie stared over at Vanda, who was now hearing about this for the first time as well, "What... what do you mean, ''Spirit Core'', that''s not... That''s not what it is!"


    With a deep glare directed at the girl, something that came involuntarily, Ryan barked out, "Yes it is!"


    It wasn''t like he was mad at Vanda directly, she was just the only one that he could be angry at right now. It wasn''t like he knew who was actually behind this; and frankly, he wasn''t totally convinced that Vanda was actually innocent here.


    "I''ll try to control it again, I just-" Richie pushed himself off the ground, reaching his hand out toward Energiser as he started ripping into the case of one of the old computers stacked up in the corner of the room.


    "No! The corruption was trying to take you over too, I have no idea what that''s going to do to you," Ryan stopped him, pushing the gnome''s hand down again, "Even Maximus was about to be taken over. I think I know a way to stop this, but we need to somehow get to the fragment."


    "Can''t you do that domain thing? Pull the fragment in? I thought you just need to be close enough!" Silvia suggested, but Ryan immediately shook his head.


    "No, I tried earlier, and it didn''t work. I think all the mechanisms are keeping it locked in somehow, it''s not responding," he pointed out, turning back to the rampaging Energiser.


    By now, it had climbed inside the computer''s case and was pulling apart the broken electronics, making them part of its own body. Before long, it climbed out of the case again, larger and clearly stronger than before. It was now barely recognizable as the robot that it started out as; instead, it seemed to just be a mass of wires and metal and plastic in the shape of what it used to be. And from Ryan''s perspective, the whole thing was kept together by threads of Gaia''s corrupted mana.


    Ryan looked down at his hands; they were cut-up and covered in blood. None of them were particularly deep, and they should heal quickly enough, but it was painful and annoying. And more importantly, it meant that Ryan wouldn''t be able to do this bare-handed. He walked over to one of the nearby podiums; they were quite simple. Metal bars holding up angled wooden boards. It was really quite wonky. It was easy enough for Ryan to kick away the thin cross-beams that were keeping it at least somewhat stable.


    Ryan handed Silvia the tablet that was on the podium. She saw the blood that was on it but wasn''t able to stop him before Ryan picked up the podium, carefully approaching Energiser.


    It was still running around, now hanging onto one of the monitors. It practically shoved its hand through the screen as if it were some thin fabric just waiting to break. The sharp shards of glass were also being fused into its body, making it even more impossible to grab it. But Ryan didn''t hesitate to push the podium right against the robot. The monitor completely broke, and its stand fell over with Energiser still on it. Ryan pressed down on it, using his full weight to try and break it.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    But instead of Energiser breaking, the podium''s wooden top cracked apart, and the robot grabbed the podium''s wooden legs. Its hand fused into the metal, starting to absorb it into itself.


    With a click of his tongue, Ryan pulled away the metal bar that now had Energiser stuck to it, "Fucking idiot," he groaned, proceeding to slam the robot into the ground like a hammer. This time, pieces that it had only just connected to it were flung off. One was shot up at Ryan, scratching his cheek. Just a little higher and it could have hit his eye.


    Ryan kept going, until suddenly the weight of Energiser seemed to mostly disappear. It had grown to weigh a few kilos at that point, so Ryan noticed it before he saw or heard it be thrown around the room and hit the wall. It seemed like its arm had been torn off and said arm was still attached to the end of the metal bar, in the midst of trying to absorb it. Not only that, but it was still wriggling around, and Ryan could see the threads of mana wriggle like worms trying to crawl out of the detached limb. Ryan placed his hand in front of it, pulling the escaping mana into Gaia''s domain. The mana was properly pulled inside, while the ''corruption'' stuck to his bloodied palm. And this practically confirmed it for Ryan.


    This corruption couldn''t do anything to him, at least not like this. It was like Ryan''s body rejected it. He didn''t know why, but that didn''t matter right now. The important part was that this meant he could still save Gaia''s fragment from this. He just had to get to the core, and the more he hesitated or waited, the harder that was going to get.


    The room was filled with complete panic. The club members were picking up their Duellists, trying to save them before they were torn apart, like some of the others already had been. And then, they ran out of the room, not even thinking about what they were doing.


    "Wait, no, stay in here!" Ryan yelled out, "Keep the fucking door closed!"


    Taking the opportunity that was given to it, Energiser ran out of the room. It could clearly tell that it was going to be in danger if it didn''t run away. This was different to the dungeon. Of course, in both cases, the fragment was being protected. In the dungeon it was done by a monster, but here, it was done by the body around the fragment itself. Instead of counter attacking Ryan, which it could tell would lead to a loss, Energiser fled. Or at least, for now.


    This was the Engineering building; this place was stock-full with numerous computers and technologies that the robot could absorb into itself. And as it did so, it would get stronger. Without hesitation, Ryan ran outside and chased the rogue machine down the hallway, ignoring Silvia and Modak as they tried to yell after him. But he couldn''t pay attention to that right now, he had to hurry. In his hand, Ryan was still holding the metal bar with Energiser''s arm basically fused to its end.


    And then, Ryan saw the robot enter a door at the end of the hallway and could feel his heart almost skip a beat. It seemed to be just a storage room... but a storage room in this building meant that it was filled with the exact things that Energiser needed. Ryan pulled open the door and immediately spotted the metal cabinet across the fairly small room. Its thin door was crumpling up as the metal was pulled into Energiser''s body. Beyond it were a number of power tools. Ryan swung the improvised weapon in his hand down at the robot, but it barely made it budge. It released its grasp from the metal door, already having pulled a fair chunk off it that was now covering half of its body like an armour.


    Energiser tried to jump into the pile of laptops and computers stacked up in the corner of the room, but Ryan stabbed the metal bar forward, hitting it out of the air. He was about to once more swing down at the Energiser, but before he could, someone pulled on his arm from behind.


    "Don''t! You can''t break it any more!" Vanda was pulling Ryan back, tearing at his jacket and almost making him fall backward.


    "What the hell are you doing? Get off me!" Ryan yelled out, as the hobgoblin flinched upon seeing his expression.


    "You can''t... if you break it, you''ll ruin everything, you''ll... I..." tears welled up in Vanda''s eyes, as Modak quickly grabbed her and pulled her away from Ryan.


    The Orc looked her in the eyes, trying to explain the gravity of the situation, "No! If he doesn''t do this, then that thing is going to keep rampaging!"


    "B-But just... why can''t he just not break it?! Just take out the core and-" she pleaded loudly, and for a moment, even Ryan was hesitating, remembering what Richie had explained to them; the event tomorrow was something that could potentially change the lives of the club members if things went well. Ryan didn''t know her situation, but Vanda must have put a lot of pressure onto tomorrow. He understood it, and he could feel her pain, but he couldn''t let that dictate what Ryan was going to do.


    "...I''m sorry," he responded, trying to tune out Vanda''s yells and screams as Modak and Silvia were pulling her away. Ryan looked back inside the room, and was met with a horrible sight. All the electronics were covered in thin, tangled threads of dark mana. They crumpled and tore and were all pulled to a specific spot in the corner of the room.


    Ryan stabbed the metal bar in his hand at that spot to try and open up a way, but it didn''t work; that mass of metal and plastic and glass was too dense for him to get through. The crunch of the materials was so loud that Ryan could barely hear himself think, until it all went quiet.


    Ryan backed out of the room as the large mass revealed itself. He had no idea what happened, but something made Gaia''s mana spread so much faster than before, and now, Ryan was looking into the face of a 2-metre tall mass of electronics that had been completely torn apart. Gaia''s core was deep inside that figure. More and more, the idea of safely recovering the fragment from inside the original robot seemed impossible.


    The mass stepped out of the room, clearly not feeling the need to flee from Ryan any more. It stretched out its hand toward him, pushing a mountain of sharp edges toward his face. However, it still only had one arm; it hadn''t been able to rebuild its limb from scratch. All it could do was build on top of an existing base.


    Trying to be as fast as he could, Ryan pulled his jacket off, holding it in front of him while carefully backing off. Luckily, it seemed that, while capable of making use of the abilities that Vanda had given its body, essentially making it a sharpened, metallic Enhancer, the way that it moved and acted was fully on instinct. It didn''t think about the best tactic or try to figure out what Ryan was doing. So, before long, the robot jumped at him to try and tear him apart.


    Ryan threw his jacket over its arm and tried to push against it; it didn''t work, due to the sheer weight of the thing he was trying to grapple. But that was fine; Ryan grabbed the jacket''s sleeves and tied its arm up as well as he could. At least this way it couldn''t punch him any more, which was a pretty good improvement from Ryan''s point of view. Now, he was dodging back and forth, sometimes getting hit by the rapid attacks, but at least he didn''t get cut up and would only end up with some bruises here and there.


    All he was doing right now was wait something out, and before long, that moment came to be. The Spirit Link skill''s cooldown had ended.


    Ryan stared at the figure in front of him, trying to focus on the mass within its very centre. Like when he linked with Maximus, he tried to find some kind of spark to hang onto. Amidst the corrupted mana, there were some threads here and there that were still glistering in Gaia''s original vibrant green. They were growing fewer and further between by the moment, but right now, Gaia was still in there.


    From within Ryan, threads of that original mana appeared, climbing toward Gaia''s fragment and piercing through that mass of metal and plastic, as Ryan connected not only with the fragment in front of him, but the one still within the domain in his mind as well.

 28 - Corruption (2)

    Ryan formed a link with both of Gaia''s fragments; both the one within his mind and the one inside the walking mountain of metal, plastic and glass in front of him. The moment the link fully formed, a sharp pain coursed through his mind; a splitting headache, as a connection with two fragments of a not whole mind came to be.


    It was like looking through a shattered mirror. One side, the one already with Ryan, showed an almost irreparable sorrow that made Ryan want to break down into tears himself. Meanwhile, the other side had nothing to offer but a deep malice. Pure hatred. And all of it, right at this moment, seemed directed at nobody else but Ryan.


    Ryan could see the corrupted mana climb the thread of the link, all the way up to Ryan''s chest. But within a few centimetres of his chest, the corruption seemed to almost be repelled. As if an invisible wall surrounded him. He still didn''t know what was going on, but he obviously didn''t mind this situation. It was coming in pretty handy for him right now.


    With a jump back, Ryan tried to build some distance between him and Energiser. And though it didn''t exactly copy Ryan''s actions, it stopped moving, and its legs flinched, as if trying to jump back before interrupting itself. Clearly, he could influence the fragment to some degree, maybe even more than he could with Maximus, but the corrupting malice fought against him every step of the way.


    Ryan focused as much as he could on trying to actively ''control'' Energiser. He didn''t try to suggest anything, he tried to command. To force an action to be taken onto the fragment. As much as it hurt him, that was the only thing that he could do, and with how weak the mind within the fragment itself clearly was, it might work.


    "Stay still," Ryan stared deeply at the face of the metallic abomination, taking a step forward as he reached out to the jacket wrapped around its arm. Though it was trying to move, Ryan was stopping it every step of the way. It was making his own movements somewhat clunky, but it was fine. He didn''t need to move much any more. He held his breath as he untied the jacket, letting it drop to the ground. It still didn''t move.


    And then, Ryan took a few more steps back, reaching out to his own chest. He grabbed his shirt, and managed to make Energiser copy the action. It crunched the metal of its chest within its grasp and then tore it away. It was a lot, but not enough. There were still some layers between Ryan and the core.


    Right at that moment, Maximus climbed back out of his domain. Ryan had been trying to hold him back, because it would be too dangerous for Maximus. If he ended up being corrupted as well, Ryan would never be able to forgive himself. But Maximus wasn''t a child; he was a knight. His job was protecting others and slaying monstrosities like the one in front of them right now.


    "Go back to the clubroom and find pliers... or anything else to open up the original robot," Ryan told Maximus, who didn''t hesitate for a moment to do as told. He sprinted past Energiser back toward the clubroom, while Ryan and the thing in front of him were stuck in a stalemate.


    The more he was trying to dictate Energiser''s actions, the more it was fighting back. Like it was learning what it had to do to stop him. At this rate, Ryan wouldn''t be able to hold it back until Maximus returned. He had to think of something else. Some way to stop that thing and save Gaia''s fragment.


    That was when Ryan felt something move by his chest. He glanced down for just a moment. The corruption was slowly encroaching on him, creeping closer by the second. Whatever was protecting Ryan, it wasn''t invincible.


    Ryan tried to glance around without letting go of his focus on Energiser, trying to see if he could find anything that might be of help to him. But there was nothing; he was just stood here in the hallway, in a stand-off against something that could rip him apart if it got a proper grasp on him. His heart beat heavily, though at this moment it didn''t feel like fear.


    "Ryan!" Modak''s voice came from behind. He quickly glanced past Energiser to try and see what was going on, and noticed the orc running toward him with not only a large wrench in his hand, but also Roxie, while Maximus was running right by his side. On the other end of the hallway, Ryan could see Richie, still weak from those few moments of being attacked by the corruption.


    "What are you doing here? You need to-"


    "Oh shut the hell up already!" Modak barked out, "I''m here to help!"


    Modak slowed down when he got close enough to Energiser, glancing down at Roxie in his hand. He took a deep breath while Ryan was trying to figure out what his friend was doing. And then, something happened. The flow of mana inside the figure across from Ryan suddenly changed. It was like it was being pulled away, like water creating a vortex as it flowed down the drain. Not only that, but Energiser started shivering. Like an earthquake running just through its body.


    Once this started, Modak rushed around Energiser, taking a closer look at the gaping hole in its chest, "Do you have it locked down properly?"


    "... For now, but I can''t... I can''t do it much longer," Ryan responded, watching as Modak glanced around the interior for a moment, before shoving the heavy wrench into a very specific spot. The corrupted mana immediately tried to pull the wrench into itself, practically gluing it into that exposed layer.


    And then, without hesitation, Modak started pulling on the wrench with his whole bodyweight behind it. His large hands were wrapped around the handle; his knuckles clear and apparent as the veins in his hands bulged.


    Ryan didn''t even have to ask what he was doing; it was the exact thing that he himself had been planning on doing once Maximus came back with some kind of tool. Modak was trying to finish the job and tear the last layers off Energiser. But then, Ryan might not have been able to concentrate on locking Energiser down like this.


    The last few layers were slowly being peeled back. This would be impossible if it were made just out of metal, but it was layered with plastic and wires and foils; things that made it ultimately weaker to what Modak was doing. As the layer was removed, Ryan could see nothing but an ocean of black threads, slithering around each other like worms or maggots, climbing onto one another as if fighting for dominance. There was nothing left of the calming sensation of Gaia''s mana.


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    "Alright, keep it locked down, I got this-" Modak started, but Ryan immediately tried to stop him.


    "Wait! Don''t do that! The... the corruption attacks mana, it tried to latch onto Richie earlier and Maximus as well, I don''t know if it can do that if the mana''s not directly exposed, but-"


    "It latches onto mana? That makes this easier, then," the orc responded as he shoved his hand inside that writhing mass that he himself couldn''t see. The only reason Ryan could was because it was originally Gaia''s mana, and he was already Gaia''s keeper. Modak might not understand the gravity of the situation, or at least that''s what Ryan thought.


    Modak wrapped his fingers around Energiser''s original body, and Ryan could feel the sensation on himself, as if stabbing needles into every part of his skin, over and over again. He could feel the skin on his arms tear and pain flow through his muscles as if it was the only thing he ever knew. His face went deathly pale as he tried to resist, soon watching the original Energiser''s torso be torn out from the mass.


    Ryan''s arms felt numb as he stared at the writhing mass of blackness that Modak was fiddling with. But he didn''t feel like he could let go of the link yet; there was something he still had to do. Meanwhile, the figure that had been built around Energiser was now just standing there in the middle of the hallway. A one-armed statue with a gaping hole in its chest, made from both old and new electronics. Ryan was finally able to properly see it, as all the mana was falling away now that it was disconnected from the fragment.


    And the same thing happened just a moment later, as Modak managed to finally pull the fragment from Energiser''s torso. That black mass fell away from the small robotic body and all that could be seen was a small glass tube with a mostly black crystal within it. But around the edges, Ryan could still see a green hue. It seemed like the mana was no longer being pulled out of it now.


    "Thanks, man, this... thank you," Ryan said, carefully taking the corrupted fragment from Modak, but the orc pulled back when he saw Ryan''s hands.


    "Are you okay? Your hands are clearly..." he pointed out, and Ryan looked down at his palms. They were still bleeding, but they didn''t particularly hurt any more. Stinging and burning, sure, but nothing else. He should get them cleaned up properly, though, but that could wait right now. Modak gave the fragment to him, and Ryan pulled open the glass tube, letting the fragment fall onto his palm. The link was still up, and the corruption from within the core was still trying to attack Ryan.


    "That''s fine... come here," Ryan whispered, rubbing his fingers over the fragment. He tried to speak to the part of Gaia within it, now overcome with nothing but hatred and fear. Without the link, he doubted he would be able to even get through to it at all.


    Slowly, the fragment fell apart into threads of mana that climbed along the link, directly into Ryan''s chest. Parts of the corruption were stripped off at the point of that wall that it couldn''t pass earlier, but it soon broke through and touched Ryan''s skin. Just like what happened with Maximus before, most of the corruption was then stopped by his own skin, but even that wasn''t enough.


    Part of it bore into Ryan, into his flesh. He could feel the tendrils of the corrupting force spread over his chest, as if someone had poured molten metal over him. But the pain soon settled down, and he only felt some numbness as a number of system windows appeared in front of him.


    <hr>


    [You have found another Fragment of Gaia (2/3)]


    [The Fragment of Gaia has been purged of Corruption]


    [The -Spirit Domain- Skill has Levelled up]


    [You have levelled up]


    <hr>


    Ryan took in a deep breath, placing his palm onto his chest. He could feel that something was off, but that could wait. He looked inward at Gaia''s domain. The second fragment had properly settled and joined the first. Currently, they were floating beside each other, moving in a slow dance as if happy to be reunited.


    At the same time, he noticed that the two domains had grown a little larger again, giving both Maximus and Gaia more space, though the latter obviously had no use for it just yet. Now that he checked on Gaia, he had to focus on Modak again.


    "Are you okay? You just stuck your hand in that, did you not feel anything?" Ryan asked nervously, looking at his friend''s hand, but Modak just slowly shrugged.


    "Well... no, I didn''t. You said it latches onto mana, right? I mean, I... don''t have any mana."


    A bit confused, Ryan looked up at his friend, "What do you mean?"


    "... Mana Rejection Disorder. My body physically cannot hold any amount of mana. Not even healing magic works properly on me," Modak laughed awkwardly, clearly hoping to move the conversation away. He turned to the ''statue'' now stood beside him, "So... we probably have to report this, right?"


    "Yeah, we definitely have to, yeah. Let''s head back to see how the others are doing, first," Ryan sighed loudly, reaching down to pick up his jacket. The inside was completely torn up, as he had feared. But better the jacket than himself. His shoulder was more than enough in that regard already.


    Ryan also reached out to Maximus, "Want to get back into the Domain?"


    The knight shook his head, looking deep into Ryan''s eyes. Looking at the spirit, he could tell that Maximus was probably not too happy about how little help he ended up being just now, and wanted to stick by Ryan out here just in case.


    As he walked past the figure of metal, Ryan looked at its back. Roxie was fused into it, barely recognizable.


    "Richie altered it so that it would start just immediately turning as much mana as it could into kinetic energy," Modak explained, and Ryan scoffed lightly.


    "And he did that without hesitation? I''ve got to thank him for that. I could feel it resisting to my influence less when its mana went out of whack."


    The three made their way back to the clubroom, which had emptied out a fair bit. There were still some people in here, but even most of those were in the middle of heading out after all of this. Beside Silvia, the only club members that remained were the three whose Duellists were destroyed. Kit, Richie, and of course Vanda.


    Kit was in the midst of trying to salvage what was left of Lightspeed. Luckily, only its arm was really torn off, so it might be possible to repair it. As for Richie, he had sat down and was still recovering from the corrupted mana. It must have been a real shock to him. Once again, Ryan felt grateful for whatever it was that protected him, though that protection was clearly used up by now.


    And meanwhile, Vanda was seated in the corner, her face in her hands, sobbing. Silvia was next to her, trying to comfort the girl somehow. Ryan immediately beelined toward them.


    "Vanda," Ryan called out, and with a flinch, the hobgoblin looked up. She could see the blood dripping from his fingertips.


    "I-I didn''t... I didn''t know that was going to happen, I-I just-"


    "I know, don''t worry," trying to be sympathetic, Ryan squatted down in front of her, "It would be stupid for you to do that kind of thing. But either way, I need you to tell me where you got that fragment from. Who gave it to you?"


    Vanda hesitated for a few moments, glancing past Ryan at Modak, who slowly nodded his head. She tried to calm herself down, closing her eyes while wiping the tears away from the fur on her cheeks. She opened her mouth... and not a single sound came out. Vanda looked up at Ryan and Modak confused, "I said it was -----! Why can''t I... It was -----, -----!"


    Whenever Vanda tried to say the name, she simply was not able to. Something had forbidden her from doing so.

 29 - Confrontation

    "Yes, sir, of course! I''m sorry about the delays, I will have the reports on your desk on Monday morning! Yes, of course, I''m making sure that Mister Blanchard''s request is well taken care of," Simon Grand sat in his car, a fake, broad smile on his face as he spoke to his superior on the phone. This upbeat demeanour was something that he had practiced for more than a decade now. A broken, swollen nose wasn''t enough to make that fa?ade crumble, "I apologize that you had to worry about this at this time of day! Please rest well!"


    Before long, however, the call ended, but Simon''s white-knuckle grip on his phone continued. He ground his teeth together in absolute anger, looking at himself in the rear mirror. Simon fixed the slightly tilted plaster on his nose, which was continuing to infuse the swollen, broken nose with high-class healing properties. By Monday, it shouldn''t be visible any more, at least not right off the bat.


    "That fucking brat," Simon leaned back in his seat as he pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his inner jacket pocket. He pulled one out and placed it onto his lips, providing himself a flame through his polished, almost shining metal lighter. Simon stared down the street at the pale green sign. ''Caf¨¦ Runic''.


    His instincts as a trapper told him one thing; that he had to be careful of that place. But at the same time, he had no choice but to do this. If he didn''t, then Christopher Blanchard wouldn''t just let that be. If not this ''Ryan'', then it was Simon''s life that was going to be ruined. He was already walking a dangerous line here.


    Obviously, the company didn''t openly approve of these kinds of methods. It was more a case of them looking away when it was done by request of an important client or business partner. But even then, only if the actions of executives like Simon didn''t become publicly known. If he messed this up in any way, he would either be thrown in front of the wolves by the company he dedicated his whole adult life to, or he would end up in the tight grasp of maniacs like the Blanchards.


    Even Simon didn''t like doing this kind of thing. His original Awakened Class was ''Archivist''; he much preferred a quiet desk job where he could file paperwork all day, but things didn''t work out. He was in need of money at some point, made the wrong kinds of contacts, and ended up in a position where he had to run around, licking the boots of newly Awakened brats all day long.


    Maybe it wasn''t quite fair to treat this one kid so harshly. The only thing he did wrong was share a last name with the most influential family in the city. No, the whole country, really. Awakening with a unique class wasn''t his fault either, obviously. It just so happened that everything came together perfectly to make Simon snap earlier today.


    Not that any of it would matter any more after tonight. Simon called some of the scum that he knew that wouldn''t mind getting their hands dirty in exchange for some petty cash. After making a bit of a mess of the Caf¨¦ and Ryan himself, things should settle down quickly.


    Simon took a deep pull of the cigarette, pushing it out of the car''s window. He looked at the clock, groaning loudly at how long he still had to wait.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    The subway came to a screeching halt, and Ryan tiredly stepped outside into the station. He turned around, seeing Silvia and Modak following behind.


    "You guys don''t actually have to drop me off at home, you know?" he pointed out, but his friends clearly thought differently.


    Modak shook his head as he stepped up to Ryan''s right side, while Silvia took his left, "We''re not going to leave you alone with that Bluesky guy running around."


    The elf immediately agreed, glancing down at Ryan''s hands, "Especially not while you''re hurt."


    "It''s not that bad, it''s just some surface-level stuff. Seriously. I still have that healing salve, my hands will be fine by... Sunday, I guess," though he was trying not to worry his friends too much, he did have to admit to himself that his palms were in a ton of pain right now. Though, that might also be the overly-tight bandages that had been wrapped around his hands earlier.


    They called the university''s security and filled them in, and they had of course called an ambulance for Richie. The EMTs ended up taking Richie to the hospital, and quickly cleaned and wrapped up Ryan''s hands while they were at it, though they were clearly in a hurry to help Richie. The presentations tomorrow had obviously been pushed back, but that wasn''t even the worst part. Vanda had been taken in by the police afterward.


    Of course, since it was her robot that had caused all the damage. However, Ryan was able to fill them in on some things, assuring them that it wasn''t her fault. He even went so far as to explain that it was a spirit core that was corrupted, though when he told them that the core ''disappeared'' he didn''t go into enough detail to tell them that it disappeared into Ryan''s domain.


    In the end, Ryan hoped that Vanda would turn out alright. With things like this, they would probably involve some spells or Awakened that could sense lies, so it should be easy enough for her to prove her innocence. At least, that''s what Ryan was hoping, he knew the reality always looked a bit different.


    The three stepped out into the streets, already dark, though the sky was still showing a few hints of the summer sunlight. Ryan glanced around, trying to see if Simon was lurking around somewhere.


    "Don''t worry, we got you," Modak reassured Ryan, who couldn''t help but feel embarrassed.


    "I''m just checking, alright? I''m not scared of that guy, I just don''t want to be jumped again."


    Silva patted Ryan''s arm, "There''s nothing wrong with being scared, you know?"


    With a long breath, Ryan nodded, "I know, I know..."


    However, the three managed to make their way to Caf¨¦ Runic without any sort of incident. Ryan unlocked the door and led his friends up to the flat.


    "You guys want something to drink?" Ryan asked as he slipped his bag from his shoulders.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "Do you mean, like, water? Or beer?"


    Considering Silvia''s suggestion for a little while, Ryan''s brows curved upward, "I mean, we do have some in the fridge. And I could use some after today."


    While the others were still putting down their bags and hanging up their jackets, Ryan made his way into the kitchen first. He pulled open the fridge, immediately seeing another half-eaten take out container, added to the collection.


    "Godsdamn- Runar, just finish your old food before you order more..." he sighed, grabbing three bottles of beer from the top row in the fridge. Ryan placed them on the table and grabbed more bottles from the crate in the corner of the kitchen, replacing the ones that he just took out of the fridge.


    Ryan dropped onto the nearest chair as Silvia and Modak followed in kind, "Your uncle''s not home?" the elf inquired.


    "I honestly have no idea," Ryan replied, "He''s probably either out doing some shady bullshit, or in his basement doing gods-know what."


    "... And you still don''t know what''s going on?" Modak wondered, "You said Runar mentioned something about filling you in on that phone call, right?"


    "Right, but that hasn''t happened yet... To be honest, I''ve just been avoiding him all week. Not that it was hard, whenever he wasn''t working he was in the basement or something. He tried to bring something up a few times, but I managed to get away with some pretty basic excuses every time," Ryan replied as he opened up the three bottles.


    Silvia seemed surprised by this, "You didn''t want to know what''s going on? I mean, what''s going to happen tomorrow?"


    Leaning back in his chair, Ryan contemplated that question for a moment. Of course, he wanted to know, how couldn''t he? It might answer a lot of his questions. But maybe that was exactly why he didn''t want to hear Runar out, "What if... it''s horrible? What if Runar does turn out to be a vile person? What if my father was caught up in things that I don''t really want to know about? And... what if my class is a bad omen?"


    "If that''s the case, then you''ll have to face that sooner or later anyway. And honestly? I''d say better sooner than later," Silvia pointed out, looking around the table. She looked at her friends, feeling her heartbeat speed up, "I... my birth mother is not a good person, and it took me a long time to really accept that. But in the end, the sooner I learned about all the choices she made, all the things that she did to me that I hadn''t realized at the time... the sooner I was able to move on. I really barely think about her any more now, and I was able to become a full part of my actual family. The people that love me and care for me."


    Ryan and Modak looked at the elf, who was clearly trying not to lock eyes with either of them. Instead, she was just staring down at the label of the beer, fiddling with it nervously.


    "Thanks for sharing that," Modak softly smiled at her, briefly holding his friend''s hand to comfort her.


    As he looked at Silvia, Ryan''s stomach churned. She was right, facing the truth and a past that he didn''t know would help him. He couldn''t run away from it. And there was something else that he didn''t want to keep hidden any more; something he was sick of hiding whenever his back was even slightly exposed. They had only known each other for half a year, but Ryan already trusted Silvia and Modak more than he ever trusted anyone else in his life.


    "... I think I should tell you guys about something that I''ve been meaning to show you for a while now. Silvia saw it earlier, and I''m sure Modak glanced at it a couple of times before too. I just want to tell you guys about it so that I don''t need to hide it any more," Ryan stood up, dropping his torn-up jacket from his shoulders. He turned his back toward them and pulled up his shirt. His stomach was turning upside down as silence filled the room.


    Ryan''s back was covered in faded scars, as if someone was trying to fit as many of them onto the empty space as they could. Some were long and thin, others were short with ragged edges. Others were small, rounds dots, scattered across. Some of the scars seemed to try and form patterns or letters, as if someone had cut up his back for fun, or out of boredom. Like scratching your name into a desk at school.


    Nervously, Ryan started to explain after pulling his shirt back down, "My mother remarried a couple of years after my dad died. You know, to give me a ''normal'' life, whatever that means. He was... not a good person, either. Uhm... I... I know that Runar isn''t this kind of bad person, but I don''t know what I''m supposed to do if I can''t trust him any more after all of this."


    He sat back down, refusing to look at his friends in case they were looking at him with pity. It was one expression he didn''t want to see them make right now. Even disgust might be better than that.


    "You guys, I''m so sorry that you both had to deal with those kinds of things. Neither of you deserved to go through that," Modak said, trying to reassure his friends that everything was fine, "And Ryan, I know this is scary, but you have to talk to Runar. You can''t run away from this. It''s going to just keep eating you up from the inside. At the end of the day, it''s your choice, but we all know that you can''t just ignore this."


    As is Modak''s words had summoned him, the flat''s door opened and was shut with a loud slam. Ryan''s heart skipped a beat as he stood back up, "You''re right. I''ll have to talk to him."


    Heavy footsteps rushed through the hallway, and Runar rushed past the open kitchen door for a moment, before stepping back and peering inside. Seeing Ryan, his eyes immediately widened, and he rushed in, carrying what seemed to be a birdcage with some dark fabric covering it.


    "Runar, we need to-" Ryan started, but he was quickly interrupted as Runar placed the birdcage onto the ground and rushed up to his nephew. He didn''t even glance at Silvia and Modak as he stepped up to Ryan, grabbing his head with both his hands to stare deep into his eyes.


    "Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" in a complete panic, Runar started to ''inspect'' Ryan. His eyes let off a soft, pale green glow that made Ryan flinch and move back in confusion, but his uncle didn''t let go of him at all.


    Ryan was about to ask Maximus for help, but the knight was seated in his cabin, simply observing the situation. It all overwhelmed Ryan a bit too much, but before he really needed to do anything, Modak had already jumped up and was pulling Runar away.


    "Keep it easy!" the orc exclaimed, as Runar turned around toward him with a startled expression.


    "Wait, you- Why are you guys here?" Runar slightly pushed away Modak, who unknowingly stepped onto the edge of the fabric that was tossed over the birdcage, making it slip off ever so slightly. The others didn''t seem to notice, but Silvia saw something move inside the cage, and it didn''t seem to be a bird.


    "We all came back here together after everything that happened today," Ryan pulled away, and Runar stared at him nervously.


    "Wait, what happened today?"


    "What- You don''t even know and you''re acting this insane? Dude, what is going on with you? I literally texted you that I was jumped by that Bluesky guy, you don''t respond to me, and then you come home, act like a maniac, and then say you don''t even know what''s going on?" with an almost furious glare, Ryan stared into his uncle''s eyes, "And are you seriously using a skill right now? You''re a fucking Awakened?!"


    Realizing what he just heard, Runar''s eyes widened, "You were jumped?! Did that guy hurt you anywhere? Was he the one that tried to infect you with the corruption?"


    The words coming from Runar''s mouth confused Ryan even more. He had no idea what was going on right now. How did Runar know about the corruption? Rather, if he didn''t know that Ryan was jumped, how did he know that something happened to him in the first place?


    But what ended up really making Ryan''s mind short-circuit was when Silvia lifted the birdcage, pulling the covering off it. And what was inside of it was not a bird. At least, not a bird that Ryan had ever heard of.


    It was a creature from storybooks. The fairy tales that parents read to their kids. Inside the cage was a small Pixie.

 30 - The Family Business

    Ryan stared at the sleeping pixie within the cage, and Runar''s neck snapped around in a panic, "Okay, I know this looks really weird, but I can explain everything, alright?"


    "Oh, can you? Are you going to explain to me why you have a... a thing that I didn''t even know were real in a cage? Why you know about the ''corruption''? And will you finally tell me the truth about what you know about what the fuck a ''Spirit Keeper'' is?!" Ryan wasn''t able to keep his voice down any more. It was all just boiling over, and he couldn''t stop himself. Runar looked at his nephew, and then let out a careful, slow sigh.


    "... Fine. I... I promised your dad I wouldn''t get you involved in this, but... honestly, I think it''s a bit too late for that now," Runar sighed loudly, before turning around toward Silvia, "Also, please put the cage down. I barely got her to fall asleep on the way, she''s a very anxious young girl. Alright?"


    Silvia looked back at Runar, glancing past him over at Ryan. He nodded his head, though hesitantly. After Silvia put the cage down, Runar turned back to Ryan, "Do you want them to be here for this?"


    Ryan didn''t even need to think about it, "Of course, I trust them both implicitly."


    "It''s your choice, just don''t regret it," Runar replied, "But first. Before I tell you anything at all. You have to tell me what happened with the ''corruption''. Did it attack you, did it latch onto you?"


    Slowly, Ryan placed his hand onto his chest. He could feel the traces of whatever that was still writhing on his chest. He looked at it earlier, and it definitely didn''t look pretty. With a sigh, Ryan pulled off his shirt fully. While he didn''t know what was going on, he wanted to trust his uncle. He wanted to believe that Runar was the good guy.


    On his chest, black tendrils had embedded themselves, bulging like thick veins that were ready to burst. Runar''s face went pale as he looked at his nephew, "How are you even standing like that? It''s got to hurt, right?"


    Ryan shrugged, "I mean, kinda, but not really. It''s just kind of numb, to be honest."


    With a long sigh, Runar leaned forward to take a closer look, "Alright... it looks like it latched onto your skin, but... not your mana? Wait, is..." slowly realizing what happened, Runar let out a loud laugh, "Your mana poisoning is protecting you."


    "... What?"


    "Yeah, you were exposed to a massive amount of mana, and a bit of it is still inside of you. It basically acts as a shield to the corruption. Dungeon Mana is almost impossible to corrupt. It''s trying, which is why it''s still latched onto you, but it can''t actually do it," Runar explained, sighing with some relief, "You''re lucky as hell, you know that?"


    Ryan looked down at his chest, "Was that why the corruption was repelled like that?"


    "That... was for a different reason. I placed some protective runes on you that held back the corruption, but since it''s already latched onto you, I can''t remove it just like that, but we have a bit of time until it gets worse anyway," Runar pointed out, sighing a breath of relief as he straightened his back, noticing Ryan''s deep stare.


    "You''re... a Rune Mage?" Ryan asked, with a slightly confused smile on his face.


    Runar raised a brow, "Yeah, you got a problem with that?"


    "No, it''s just..." Ryan didn''t know how to say it, but Silvia luckily didn''t mind just saying what they were all thinking.


    "Your name is ''Runar'', you own a place called ''Caf¨¦ Runic'', and you''re a Rune Mage? Isn''t that kind of playing into the theme a bit too much?"


    "Okay, firstly, rude. Secondly, I didn''t name myself, and my brother came up with the name for the caf¨¦. Alright?" Runar turned around and picked up the birdcage, stepping into the hallway, "Now follow me. Oh, and by the way, even if Ryan trusts you two, I should make something clear. If you two say even a word about what you''ll find out, you should be prepared for the consequences that come with that."


    On an ominous note that didn''t bode well for Runar, he left the kitchen. Ryan put his shirt back on, and looked at his friends, "If you guys don''t want to know, you can-"


    "Shut up, you kidding? Obviously we''re going to come along," Modak scoffed, "That''s a pixie in there! A real pixie!" the orc''s eyes were filled with curiosity and excitement, and Ryan couldn''t blame him. His heart was beating strong in his chest, and not just out of anxiety.


    "Silvia, what about you? Really, you don''t have to," Ryan pointed out, but Silvia seemed to be of the same opinion as Modak. She had pushed for Ryan to figure out the ''mystery'' behind his class and father in the first place.


    "I will not let you two get involved in some secret underworld without me," with a scoff, Silvia stepped out of the kitchen as well, as Ryan and Modak followed behind.


    Inside his domain, Maximus was still seated on his bed, without the intention to come out anytime soon. He was still just watching, barely even reacting when Ryan tried to talk to him. Whether he finally ended up remembering something, or whether he himself was just anxious. Something was going on, and it was putting Ryan on edge.


    The three followed behind Runar. They walked out of the main flat and made their way down the stairs to the basement. The door itself seemed very ordinary. Old and wooden, fitting what you would expect from a building like this. Runar pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open with a creak. And what they walked into... was a regular basement.


    There was a workbench in the corner, some tools hanging on a pegboard on the wall. Boxes stacked up in the corner and lots of clutter everywhere. Really, nothing out of the ordinary. It was kind of disappointing, really.


    "... This is the big secret?" Ryan asked with a sigh, but Silvia playfully hit his side, clearly enjoying the situation.


    "Don''t you watch any movies at all? There''s clearly some hidden passageway somewhere," the elf pointed out, looking over at Runar excitedly, "So, where is it? Behind that old bookshelf?"


    Runar turned toward her and sighed, shaking his head, "No, it''s not there. But honestly, you''re taking all the fun out of the reveal, you know?"


    He stepped into the centre of the room and squatted down, pressing his palm onto some runes that had been carved into it. The wooden boards creaked loudly and shifted aside in a familiar way, revealing some stairs spiralling downward. Ryan looked at Runar, locking eyes with him as he looked up, "What?" Runar asked, and Ryan scoffed lightly.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "A ''friend'' installed the adaptive door, huh?"


    "... I mean, I couldn''t tell you I did it," Runar pointed out, "Though I guess it''s just another lie on top of everything else, so... sorry about that."


    "No, honestly, I should''ve known. No way you''d have friends," Ryan said quite bluntly, stepping down into the dark stone stairway.


    While waiting for Silvia and Modak to go down as well, Runar started complaining, "Man, I know that tension between us is high right now, but that one was really uncalled-for."


    Once everyone was in the stairway, the wooden boards shifted back over them, for a moment encasing them in perfect darkness. But it didn''t take long until that changed; along the walls and on the stairs, like safety-lights, long lines started to glow. Runes were written within the lines in regular intervals.


    The group continued climbing down the stairs, down and down, much further than Ryan would have ever imagined. The stairway was narrow and spiralling, to the point where it was starting to make Ryan dizzy. However, that didn''t last long, as before long, the group reached a chamber at the bottom of the stairs, with a large stone door on the other side of the room.


    "Another layer of defence?" Ryan asked, growing more and more nervous. This situation was already ridiculous in the first place, but somehow, seeing something like that gave him even more anxiety. What kind of things was Runar involved in that he had hidden this space to this extent?


    Runar stepped up to the door, "You can never be too careful. There are a lot of things to protect behind this."


    He placed his palm onto the door, once more, activating some runes that covered it all over. The clearly extremely heavy door scraped open, and Ryan''s heart skipped a few beats. What was behind there? Treasure? A drug den? A secret murder hole?


    Was it a bad idea to come down here with Runar after all? Ryan turned around toward his friends. They seemed similarly anxious, though he could see a bit more curiosity on their faces than Ryan imagined on his own. But really, he had no idea what his face looked like right now.


    But what he saw instead was something he really didn''t expect. Plants. Thick leaves and vines right in front of the door that it tore through while opening up. Runar rolled his eyes and shook his head as if disappointed. He quickly stepped through the door, pushing the leaves and branches out of the way, "Every single time..."


    Confused, Ryan, Modak and Silvia followed behind him, not sure what to say. They took a few steps forward and the door quickly closed behind them. As they continued on and the plants seemed to become less dense, Ryan was able to see something as he peered up through the thicket.


    He could see stars. Which didn''t make any sense, obviously. They had gone down so far, so how could there possibly be stars here? And then, Runar pushed aside the last wall of plants, making way for Ryan, Silvia and Modak to step through.


    "This is the Sanctuary of the Hidden," Runar explained with a certain proud smile on his face, though Ryan could tell that there was some bitterness in his voice and face. But really, he couldn''t focus on that right now. Instead, he focused on what was in front of him.


    A trampled dirt-road, some houses, and even street lights. They were all made of old stone, like some of those really old structures left behind from ''Old Riverside''. It was basically a small village surrounded by trees and vines that seemed to climb up on the sky itself.


    "What the actual fu-" Ryan yelled out, but Runar immediately pressed his hand onto his mouth to stop him.


    "Be quiet, there''s people sleeping down here," his uncle warned him, but that just confused Ryan more.


    Silvia took a few steps forward, looking around curiously, "There''s people down here? And what do you mean with ''Hidden''? Whose sanctuary is it?"


    Letting out a loud sigh, Runar turned back around and started walking again, "I''ll explain it to you in a second. But really, just keep it down a bit. And... no matter what you see, don''t make too much noise, alright?"


    They continued walking forward, and Runar seemed to be looking for something. And, as though he found it, he pointed his hand forward, speaking in a clear, but not loud, voice, his foot impatiently tapping on the ground, "You, come here."


    "Hm?" Ryan let out, looking into the direction that Runar was pointing at. But he was just pointing at some plants. Though, those plants soon started walking. It was a mass of ivy, as if a statue was overgrown.


    With its head hung low, the moving plant approached Runar, who slowly looked past them, "You two as well," he added, and from the thicket, two more came out. One was a lot shorter, seeming more like a child made of moss, and the other didn''t look like a person at all. Instead, it just looked like a decently large dog made of thorny vines and some roses blossoming on its back and head.


    "What did I tell you about blocking the doors?" Runar asked, clearly waiting for an answer. The person made of ivy started to... shift, as if the leaves of its body were trying to respond to the question.


    Runar sighed, "You say that every single time, but I assure you, nobody beside me can come through there anyway."


    Slowly, the three sentient masses of plants looked at Ryan, Silvia, and Modak, who were watching this scene unfold in a mixture of shock and confusion. Shaking his head, Runar assured those plant-people, "Don''t worry, this is my nephew and his friends. They''re fine, they''re with me. You can trust them," he explained, before turning back to Ryan, finally starting to explain, "These three are ''Dryads''. There''s around two dozen of them down here, and as you can see, they''re intelligent and sapient plants."


    "Uhm... hi? Nice to meet you, I''m Ryan" he nervously said, looking at the three Dryads, instinctively trying to reach out to shake their hands. However, they all backed away, scurrying off back into the thicket.


    Runar patted him on the shoulder with a smile, "Don''t worry, they''re just not great with strangers. I''m sure with time, they-"


    "What the actual fuck is going on here?" Ryan immediately asked, pulling away from Runar with a deep stare, not sure exactly why he acted so casual about sapient plant people just now.


    Runar looked away, continuing to walk down the road, "Our family has been protecting those who can''t protect themselves for... a thousand years now?"


    "And what''s that supposed to mean? Protecting whom? From what? And ''our family''? Does that mean my dad was involved in this as well?"


    "It means exactly what I said. We protect people and animals that can''t do it on their own, and we mainly protect them from society itself. ''Our family'' means the ''Aglecards''. And yes, obviously, that includes your father."


    "So... you''re the good guys?" Ryan asked hesitantly, hoping that he was understanding things correctly. Runar stopped walking and turned around, staring at his nephew.


    "Hold on, did you actually think I was a criminal or something?"


    "Well, yeah, what did you expect? I overheard that phone call earlier this week about something that''s supposed to happen tomorrow."


    "... Right, I was afraid that was the case. That situation is a bit more complicated, still, we''re doing something like a test-run tomorrow," Runar explained with a long sigh. He started walking up the stairs leading into one of the buildings. Ryan quickly followed behind, more focused on Runar. But Silvia and Modak were just stunned as they looked around excitedly.


    "So this is a secret society thing?" Silvia asked excitedly, practically jumping up the steps. Runar simply nodded.


    "It sounds a bit silly, doesn''t it? But yes, that''s basically what it is," Runar explained, pushing open the door in front of him. The space inside the building was fairly simple; a single large space with some couches in the corner and a desk on one side of the room. There were bookshelves and some metal filing cabinets set up as well, but the thing that stuck out the most was the small ball made of sticks, leaves and flowers set up on a small pedestal right next to said desk.


    While Ryan, Silvia and Modak were still looking around, unsure what to expect, Runar made his way to the desk and put down the bird cage, opening it up a moment later.


    Carefully, Runar scooped up the sleeping pixie to place it inside the spherical ''nest'' next to the desk. Once that was done, Runar sat down on the chair on the other side of the desk, and looked at Ryan, locking eyes with him.


    "Alright, sorry that I''ve been still a bit dodgy until now. But let me really fill you in now. My name is Runar Aglecard, I awakened as a Rune Mage at the age of thirteen. Five years later, I was officially named the head of the Aglecard family."

 31 - The Family Business (2)

    "You''re the head of a motherfucking secret society?" Ryan let out almost involuntarily after he heard his uncle''s words, and Runar slowly nodded his head.


    "Yes, I am. Your father was supposed to inherit that position, but before that could happen, he cut contact and moved away to Maidsbury. He became an accountant, met your mom, and... got sick," Runar explained, "He never wanted you to be a part of this whole thing. It was his biggest fear, to be honest. But he asked me to take care of you should you be forced to get involved."


    Ryan stared back a bit confused, "What do you mean, ''forced to get involved''? This is about my class, isn''t it?"


    "Obviously it is. It... your class is a-" Runar started, but the conversation was quickly interrupted as someone, or something, stepped through the door. It was a small and stout, one metre tall figure. Its body was round and its arms and legs were short and stumpy. It was also completely made of stone, except for the large hole in its head that revealed a complete crystal interior.


    Ryan immediately stepped between it and his friends, but Runar jumped up a moment later, "Wait, wait, wait!" he tried to stop Ryan, running over to the side of the small stone figure.


    "This isn''t like a monster or anything, they''re called ''Geodes''. They''re made of stone and crystals, and they''re also very much alive and one of the people that we protect," Runar explained, "Nothing down here is inherently dangerous, alright? So... don''t beat anyone up."


    The Geode in question slowly looked at Runar. The crystals revealed through the hole in its face began to glow and then dimmed again, in rhythmic patterns, while at the same time a soft whistle like wind chimes sounded out. Runar seemed to be listening and watching intently, slowly nodded his head.


    "Hm, okay, thanks for letting me know," Runar sighed lightly, rubbing the bridge of his nose annoyed, "I''ll go to talk to him in a bit, alright?"


    Seemingly happy with that answer, the Geode turned back around and walked away, without paying attention to Ryan and the others at all.


    Modak curiously peered after them as they waddled away, "I''ve never heard of a ''geode'' before... was that it talking just now?"


    Runar looked at the orc with a raised brow, "First of all, ''they'', not ''it''. Geodes aren''t objects, they''re people. I know they might not look it, but let''s treat them like it, alright? But second, yes, that was them talking. They communicate with light and those small vibrations that make that ringing sound. Took me years to learn how to understand them properly. And then all the different languages... that was a pain, really. But worth it. It''s much better than having them all write down messages for me."


    "I don''t... I don''t get it," Ryan slowly let out, "So this place is a ''sanctuary'' for people like them? People that don''t... look like us?"


    "It''s not about how they look," Runar replied, "We take care of some people that look just like anyone else, and visually really wouldn''t stick out. But... they can''t coexist that easily with others for other reasons."


    Ryan frowned lightly, "What other reasons?"


    Trying to find the right words, Runar ran his hands through his hair, "So... let''s take pixies as an example. They''re smart, they have sapience, they hit all the official marks for a ''person'' that''s been established by the World Rights Organization. But they can''t speak. They don''t have vocal cords, and they''re legally deaf as well. However, they can innately sense mana, and manipulate the mana in their bodies to talk to each other. But because they weren''t able to communicate with other species, they are officially classified as... animals."


    "Wait, really? Weren''t there any other ways to check that?" Silvia asked, looking at the spherical nest with a sad frown, "Like having them write, or... or, I don''t know, just anything other than assume they''re animals?"


    "Of course they could have, but why would they? People just assumed pixies aren''t intelligent and didn''t care to check," Runar walked over to the couches, sitting down on one. He motioned toward the couch across from the small coffee table to have Ryan, Silvia and Modak sit down, as he seemed to prepare himself to continue, "And then, they found out that pixie... pixie blood, flesh, and bone has healing properties. Back in the day, many high quality potions or elixirs were made with them as a prime ingredient. It was better for people to not think about the ''what if''. But at this point, pixies are an endangered species. We''re not entirely sure, but we think that we''re currently protecting about 90% of all the pixies left."


    Ryan''s face went pale as his stomach turned upside down at the thought of a person being turned into medicine, "So what, this is what you do every time the store is closed? You go and try to save people in danger?"


    "I mean, I don''t go out and do it myself, usually. We... have a lot of people working with us. I end up having to do a lot of administrative work. People come and go; my entrance isn''t the only one, we have a couple others nearby that might be a bit safer depending on the circumstance. But I had to go myself this time because of the situation that the pixie girl was in," Runar explained, as something that Ryan had never seen from his uncle before appeared on his face, "She was about to be auctioned off as a pet... I managed to bust the auction. We work with the police to some degree, as necessary. They know we''re doing something, but they stay out of it as much as possible."


    A thought crossed Modak''s mind. He felt horrible about asking this the moment after Runar spoke about illegal auctions, but since he had ties to the police, he just had to come out with it, "Do you think you can help my friend? She... she''s clearly going to get in trouble because of everything that happened today..."


    Runar looked at Modak with a slightly confused frown, "I mean, I try not to get involved with legalities for unrelated matters, you know? I''m sorry about your friend, but..."


    "It... is related," Ryan replied, glancing over at Modak before turning back to his uncle. He started filling him in on the events of the day. Runar listened intently but nervously, finally understanding the source of the ''corruption'' that had latched itself onto Ryan''s chest.


    He leaned back in his seat and sighed, "So that''s what happened," he muttered, turning to Modak while pulling out his phone, "I''ll tell my people and have them take care of this Vanda girl, alright? You don''t need to worry, she''ll be fine."


    "You have reception down here?" Silvia asked, pulling out her phone to check, but Runar shook his head, pulling off his phone''s case. On its inside, arrays of runes were revealed.


    "You guys won''t, but I''m transmitting the signal from my phone to a point upstairs," he explained, starting to write up a text while glancing back up at Ryan, "Now, you have the second fragment? That''s good, that makes things a lot easier. Even those guys can''t hide the last one if we have more than half."


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Ryan frowned, leaning forward. Clearly, Runar knew more about the spirit cores than he wanted to admit before. But now, he wasn''t in a situation where he could hide that any more, "Alright, you have some stuff to explain to me. What is my class?"


    Runar, still typing the message to his ''people'', started to explain. Though, he seemed to be using it as an excuse not to look at Ryan directly, "The ''Spirit Keeper'' has always held a special position within our family. The first ''Aglecard'', the one who founded our family, was a Spirit Keeper. Since then, it''s been passed down, but only after the death of the last Spirit Keeper. There''s only one at a time. Though, it wasn''t always the family head. Actually, the Spirit Keeper hasn''t been the family head for... five hundred years? Your father would have been the first one in a while."


    Taken aback, Ryan looked at his uncle, "Wait, but... my class has never been registered before, if my dad was one, then how¡­?"


    "Well... The identity of the current Spirit Keeper has always been kept a secret, until you. It''s always been safer that way. Again, the Spirit Keeper class is a bit special. Or rather, it holds a special meaning for those in our circles," Runar explained, "Like a symbol; a beacon for those that need help."


    Ryan slowly averted his gaze. He looked inwardly at Maximus, once more trying to pull him out. This time, he didn''t resist. The knight appeared on the table between the two couches. Looking at him, Ryan asked him something that he had already asked him a few times. He just hoped that he would be able to remember this time, "So? Do you have anything to tell me now? You knew about all of this too, right?"


    Maximus stood there, clearly not sure how to respond. But Runar quickly responded for the spirit, "I... I actually don''t think so," he pointed out, and Ryan glanced at his uncle again.


    "What do you mean?"


    "I knew Maximus before. He was one of the spirits that Hayden protected, and was at the forefront of any battles. Of course, I only saw him a couple of times, I was just a kid, after all," Runar explained, "But... when your father... when he cut off his connection to the system, that stopped. He was the keeper of many spirits, but their cores were completely scattered. Most of them were injured in some way, whether it was by fragmenting or even irreversibly shattering. We haven''t been able to wake up the few that we managed to find, but we''ve always assumed that the process led to irreversible mental damages. Honestly? Amnesia seems to be a light consequence. His personality is still the same, it seems."


    Ryan was trying to follow along. He felt bad for doubting Maximus, especially since he was clearly a victim here.


    "My father cut his connection to the system? What... what''s that supposed to mean?" he asked, though Ryan already knew. He clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white as his fingernails dug into his palm.


    Modak and Silvia had been trying their best to stay silent while this conversation was going on, not wanting to interrupt something as heavy as what was being revealed right now. But that didn''t mean that they weren''t there to support Ryan. Modak patted his friend''s back, while Silvia placed her hand onto Ryan''s clenched fist, trying to get him to relax.


    He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Seeing that, Runar carefully responded.


    "It means that he reversed his awakening," Runar looked down at Maximus, with a bitter, regretful expression, "And in the process, he hurt a lot of spirits that only deserved to be protected."


    "And how''s that even possible?" while Ryan heard and understood what Runar was saying, the idea of someone ''un-awakening'' just didn''t make sense. In the first place, the way the system really worked and the reasons behind its existence still weren''t known even more than a millennium after it first came to be. Reversing an awakening was a ridiculous idea.


    And even Runar seemed to agree, "It''s insane, I know, but it''s what happened. He did it all on his own. I''ve been trying to look into it since I became the head, but... nothing."


    Ryan looked at Maximus. He was abandoned by Ryan''s father, clearly without contemplating the consequences of his actions. But there was something that made Ryan even more mad, specifically in regard to the knight, "So my father... doomed a ton of spirits, and then kept Maximus around as a souvenir? Are you fucking with me?"


    Runar leaned back in his seat, slowly nodding, "Yeah, that''s basically it. Maybe he kept Maximus around for the next Spirit Keeper. But until you awakened, we thought that Hayden got rid of the class altogether, so I really don''t know. Clearly, though, it was the right time for the keeper to come back."


    Ryan was a bit confused, "What do you mean? ''It was the right time''?"


    "Well... the Spirit Keeper isn''t usually handed down from parent to child, and you becoming the keeper isn''t because you''re Hayden''s son either. The Spirit Keeper is chosen by... ''fate''? Frankly, most of the time, they weren''t directly related to our family, and we found them and took them in after they awakened. It was always people chosen because they deserved the title and the weight behind it, and because they would cherish the spirits."


    Ryan scoffed, not particularly happy with the idea, "So... what? ''Fate'' brought Maximus to me?"


    "Is... fate even real?" Modak asked, deeply sceptical at the idea.


    And before Runar could respond, Silvia looked at the orc, "Of course it is! Fate is all around us, constantly! Guiding us, helping us, leading us to where we''re supposed to be."


    "Yes! Yes, that is true, but..." Runar quickly took over, looking at Modak who clearly still wasn''t entirely sure, "...fate isn''t forcing you to do anything. It''s this complex amalgamation of mood and timing and all these little coincidences that might bring you to the right point in time. It''s still your journey, you are the one in control. For example, if Ryan weren''t a good person, and didn''t actively make the choice to protect and help others when he can, no matter how he does it, he wouldn''t have awakened as a Spirit Keeper. Fate isn''t some omniscient force either; we''ve learned that in the past, other people that were candidates to become Spirit Keeper were given the opportunity to awaken by fate, but due to their actions and personality, it didn''t happen."


    ''I guess that''s a pro?'' Ryan thought to himself. The idea of ''fate'' being the only reason he awakened, something beyond him that he couldn''t control, felt almost demeaning. But if the reason for his awakening was that the choices that he made in his life were bringing him onto the right path, and that it meant that he could be trusted with the safety of others, despite the mistakes that he has made in the past, that felt... good. Just good.


    "This is all... a lot," Ryan pointed out with an awkwardly nervous smile on his face, "So what does that mean? Do I have to fulfil some kind of role now?"


    Runar shrugged, "Not if you don''t want to. I mean, the family elders might complain a bit, but my word goes above theirs. If you want to help out somehow, we can find a way for you to do that. If you want to not get involved in any of this, I can keep you blacklisted."


    "... Blacklisted?"


    "Basically, it just means that no member of the family or adjacent groups we work with is allowed to contact you directly. It''s usually used more for like... an exile thing? But it came in useful here as well," Runar explained, "I can''t justify keeping it up if you get too involved, and once it''s removed, I don''t think I will be able to reverse it."


    "Can I think about that for a bit? I think I need to sort of... digest it all, you know?" Ryan asked, his mind racing with far too many thoughts for him to make such a decision right now. His gut was telling him to just agree, and to see what the hell this new world he didn''t know about had to offer him. But at the same time, making such an important decision without considering the consequences? That would be insane. There was clearly something bigger going on, something darker than was obvious right here. Ryan had to consider if that was something he wanted to deal with.


    But there was still something else that Ryan needed to know, "So, what''s going to happen tomorrow?"


    Runar''s face immediately dropped as he leaned forward, almost startled, "A-About that... So, there''s a species we''re currently working on integrating into society. But we can''t just do that, you know? So... we''re doing a test run. It''s this 10 year old kid. He''ll go to school, he''ll make friends, and hopefully act as a great example that they can live well in society with the tools we''re providing."


    Surprised, Ryan raised his brows, "Oh... I thought it was going to be a bit... more than that. What''s the trouble with that, then? Why were you freaking out so much?"


    "Well..." Runar sighed loudly, not sure how to say it. In the end, he chose to just come out with it, "He''s going to be living with us."

 32 - The Family Business (3)

    "Could you repeat that?" Really not sure if he heard right, Ryan stared at his uncle with a perplexed expression.


    Runar sighed loudly, "Listen, it''s part of the job, alright? I end up housing a lot of people upstairs, especially individuals that struggle because of curses or mutations or things like that. This is just the first time that it''s going to be a long-term thing."


    "Where''s he even supposed to stay? I''m not sharing my room with a kid, you know?" Ryan pointed out, but Runar quickly calmed him down.


    "Of course not, don''t worry. I guess you didn''t check it yet, but I cleared out my office. We''re having some people come tomorrow to properly set the room up for a kid his age. A bed, a proper desk for a kid his age, we''re darkening the windows, and we also have to get him a bunch of school stuff for when he starts."


    Ryan frowned lightly, glancing at his friends to see if they noticed it as well.


    "You''re darkening the windows? Why?"


    "Oh, the kid''s a Vampire. They have awful sun allergies so we need to block it in his bedroom, obviously. We have this really potent sunblock for when he goes outside, though, but his bedroom should be even safer."


    Considering that there was a sapient mass of rocks talking to Runar with lights and vibrations earlier and a Pixie was sleeping just a couple steps away, Ryan knew he shouldn''t be surprised by the fact that Vampires were real. Though Silvia seemed like she just had to make doubly sure.


    "Vampires are real? Seriously?" She asked, both taken back and curious. Runar let out a long sigh and nodded his head.


    "Yes, they''re real, and so are Ghouls, and Succubi, and Titans, and- you know what? I''ll give you guys a list later, that might make this a bit easier," he replied, slowly pushing himself off his seat, "But yes, again, Vampires are real. Yes, they''re allergic to sunlight, no they don''t mind garlic, and they''re also not vulnerable to holy magic or depictions."


    "... So, why are you struggling to integrate them into society?" Ryan asked, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Runar sighed loudly. This was the part that he was worried about revealing the most, obviously.


    "Because they have to live off blood. Or rather, the mana dissolved in all of our blood. They can survive off animal blood for a while, but in most animal blood doesn''t have the right quantity or quality of mana, and it can lead to plenty of health issues. Something like... scurvy, basically," he started to explain, "But most species of people have a higher quality of mana, so that''s where they would need to go for their blood. And you can imagine why that would cause... friction."


    Ryan held his hand to his neck, carefully. Everyone that had heard stories of vampires knew about the classic bite mark on the neck. Runar was immediately able to tell what he was thinking, and quickly shut his thought-process down.


    "Oh, no, that''s not how that really works these days. I mean, there''s always Vampires that go off rogue, but that''s really just comparable to other criminals, you know? We have been buying up excess blood from blood banks for a while and providing them to any Vampires that have made contact with us. So there''s no direct physical contact. But we have actually been working on something that just left its last clinical trial phase, hence why we''re doing a proper test run now. We''ve been working on artificial blood," Runar stood up from his seat and walked over to his desk, looking for some documents that were scattered around.


    Ryan turned around, looking at his uncle with some disbelief, "You guys invented artificial blood just so that vampires don''t have to feed off people any more?"


    "Well, not just. It''s going to take a little longer to adapt it to every species and blood type, but once we do, it''s going to go into trials to be used in the medical sector, but that''s still a bit away."


    Finally finding what he was looking for, Runar picked up a piece of paper and brought it over to Ryan, Silvia, and Modak, handing it to them. It seemed to be the results of the trials that they had run, "In our long term tests, a full 98.7% of vampires were able to fully replace their blood intake with our artificial blood. For the remaining 1.3%, who were only unable to do so because of things like indigestion and mild intolerances that came with the artificial blood, we believe we can adjust the formula as we would into different blood types to make this possible. Oh, and of the ones that were able to replace their intake, 95% had an improvement of health over the course of the next three months, and none had a decrease."


    "So... what? You can distribute this to all vampires? And then you''ll hold a big press conference, announcing the existence of vampires?" Ryan asked, really not sure exactly how this was all supposed to go. He was happy that he wouldn''t have to worry about being randomly bitten by the kid that was going to live with them starting tomorrow, but this was still a bit confusing.


    "Well, we''re going to be adjusting the formula and using it as a base for something like those meal-replacement drinks, so that vampires can also start enjoying their meals a bit, and then we''ll try to sell them in stores across the country and then expand internationally. And otherwise? We''ll just have Vampires slowly reveal themselves. They already live in society, people just don''t know that they''re vampires. They look near identical to humans, just with slightly more pointed ears, so people probably assume they have some elf blood in them. Well, a press conference isn''t a bad idea, though. Just to make it clear that vampires aren''t dangerous."


    "Wait..." Ryan placed the piece of paper down on the table, looking back at his uncle, "So if they''re already living alongside us, just ''hidden''... the test run means that the kid is going to live with us, and we''re going to publicly tell everyone he''s a vampire?"


    "Yep. Legally there''s already no issue with vampires coexisting with us as long as they don''t harm other people, and since we''ve practically solved that problem now? It should all go relatively well. Frankly, these days, people are very open. The last species that we properly integrated a few decades ago were the Arachnids, and that was a challenge itself, but we got through that, so vampires should be alright."


    Modak raised his brows surprised, "Wait, you did that with Arachnids?"


    "Oh, yeah. Non-humanoid species are always a bit rough to integrate, but it all worked out. You know Aranea, the head librarian at your university? She''s actually the great-granddaughter of the arachnid representative from when our family helped them integrate," Runar smiled lightly, "I''ve met her a couple of times, since we still work with arachnids to ensure that they''re treated well and their rights are kept up. Actually, I-"


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    In the middle of Runar''s sentence, his eyes widened confused, "Who the hell-" he let out, jumping onto his feet, groaning loudly, "Godsdammit... sorry, there''s something I need to take care of."


    As Ryan looked at his uncle, whose irises had started glowing in a soft green light, he saw an expression he had seen plenty of times before. Usually, when there was an annoying customer in the caf¨¦ that Runa was dreading dealing with, he would make that exact face. Usually Ryan would end up taking care of it, but this time, it was different.


    "You guys go ahead and stay down here. It won''t take long, and running up and down the stairs multiple times just gets annoying sometimes. There''s still a lot that you guys should know about," Runar walked over to his desk and grabbed something that was laying on it. A black, engraved fountain pen with golden inlays and small metallic feather on its end. The engravings looked similar to the ones that were on his father''s model-building tools, "I guess it''s a good chance for you to just sort of digest everything, and maybe talk out what your plan is after this. Oh, and Ryan, if someone comes here and is confused about who you are and why you''re here, just tell them your name, and you should be fine."


    "Uh... Sure, I guess. Do you need any help?"


    Runar looked at his nephew, as if contemplating it for a moment, but he just shook his head in the end, "Nah, I got this. Alright, I''ll be right back!" he rushed out the door, shutting it behind him. His footsteps quickly faded away, as Ryan leaned forward, burying his face in his hands. Silvia and Modak were similarly silent, until the dense air was cut apart.


    "Holy crap, Ryan!" Silvia let out loudly, looking at her friend as she jumped up from the couch, "A secret society? A secret! Society?!"


    "Don''t look at me like that, I had no fucking clue! Honestly, I still feel like this is some weird, elaborate prank!" Ryan admitted, throwing up his arms, "Like... how is this kind of shit even real? This isn''t some kind of book... is it? Are we in a book? Is this whole thing a stupid fucking book?"


    "Calm down, guys, this is crazy, but it''s clearly real," Modak slowly stood up with a long sigh, but both Silvia and Ryan were just staring at him.


    "Don''t act so big, you''re obviously freaking out right now," Ryan retorted.


    "No I''m not."


    "Yeah you are."


    "What makes you say that?"


    "Your eye is doing that thing again."


    Modak held his hand to his cheek, feeling his eye twitch nervously. With a click of his tongue, the orc replied, "Okay fine! This is insane! How could I not be freaking out right now?"


    Seeing how his friends were reacting, Ryan slowly stood up and looked at them both, "I... if this is too much for you guys, I can tell Runar and you guys don''t have to get involved in any of this."


    Though they both clearly wanted to reply immediately, neither of them were able to. This was much too complicated for them to come out with an immediate response. There was so much weight on this all, and they barely had any time to process any of it.


    Finally, Modak asked, "What about you? Will you... stick around? Will you become a part of this whole... thing?"


    Ryan thought about it for a moment. He turned toward Maximus and looked inwardly at Gaia, her two fragments floating in her domain, "Yeah. Yeah, I''ll stick around. I can''t back away from this any more. There''s no way I can go back to living a normal life, always wondering why my father would... doom so many spirits. And come on, this is the perfect place for me, I can actually help people. I can... I can..."


    "If you''re sticking around, so am I," Silvia said bluntly, "I mean, I know that it''s probably different for us, and our decision in this has less weight, but still. I''m not going to leave you alone here."


    After the elf''s immediate response, Ryan was overcome with relief. Not having to do this alone was going to make this all so much easier. But Modak still had some concerns.


    "What if this is dangerous?" he wondered, clearly worried about some things, "I mean, Runar literally placed a protective ward on you. That''s not something you do if there''s no threat of something horrible happening. Not to mention, that ''corruption'' thing? Are we sure that''s a level of danger that any of us want to be exposed to?"


    Ryan once more didn''t have to think about the answer too much, "Dangerous or not, this is something I have to do. I can''t not do this."


    "... Alright. In that case, I''m staying as well," Modak replied, though the answer seemed to be coming with quite a bit of concern. Nonetheless, Ryan knew that Modak was just as curious about all of this as Silvia was, even if he showed it less than the elf.


    "Thank you guys. I cannot tell you how much it means to have you guys here with me," Ryan smiled lightly, "This shit is so weird and tough to wrap my head around, and not having to do it alone means a lot. And Maximus, you-"


    He turned around and looked at the small knight, just to be quite taken aback by what he saw. Tiny figures just barely reaching a little above Maximus'' knees. There were seven of them, roughly humanoid and completely ink black. Their bodies were practically a ''blank slate''; no eyes, ears, or mouth. Their heads were perfectly round and their limbs round and straight.


    These things were all standing in front of Maximus and staring up; even the knight himself didn''t seem to have noticed yet, as he was focused on Ryan. But noticing that something seemed to be wrong, Maximus glanced down, finally noticing the figures.


    Startled, he took a step back, where another one of them was standing. As Maximus'' leg hit that figure, it fell apart into a black smoke that unnaturally moved around the knight''s body, gathering in front of him and turning back into that figure.


    "What are those?" Silvia took a step forward and squatted down in front of the table, "They''re kind of cute!"


    "I think those are... Sprites?" Modak suggested, also squatting down next to the table to take a closer look, "Yeah, yeah for sure! I still have a children''s book with these in it that my mom would always read to me, they helped the main character with something... Finding some jewel in the forest or something?"


    "Are you talking about ''The 100 Tales of Shazir''?" Ryan asked, a bit surprised to hear it brought up. It was a story that he loved as a kid; rather, the one memory that he has of his father is being read this story by him.


    Modak quickly nodded his head, "Yeah, that''s them, right?"


    "I think so?" Ryan responded, glancing down at the small figures.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Runar jumped up a few steps at a time, sighing with an annoyed expression on his face. He already had plenty of things to deal with, so why were those meddlesome bugs here to waste his time?


    Once he got out of the stairway and the floor closed back up behind him, Runar quickly stepped out of the basement. He didn''t even bother locking the door behind him; this wasn''t going to take him long.


    Runar held the fountain pen in his hand forward, drawing something in the air. It was a series of runes floating in front of him in a soft green; the colour of Runar''s mana. Droplets of magic were detaching off the writing, and he let out a long sigh, "Man, I should really get some more sleep. My mana control''s completely out of whack."


    As if triggering it, an exhausted yawn left his mouth as he pulled back the pen from the runes in the air. The mana began to glow for a short moment before dissipating in a flood of individual droplets, spreading all throughout the building. And before he knew it, Runar could see the outlines of everything beyond the walls of the break room he was in. The counter, the tables and the chairs pushed up against them, the shards of broken glass on the ground and of course the seven men that were standing inside the caf¨¦.


    "Two awakened..." he muttered to himself as he spotted the large quantities of mana in two individuals, one of them being a twisted purple he recognized, "Those damn sparrows really don''t hold back, do they?"

 33 - The Patriarch

    "Oi, quiet it down, will you?" Simon barked with an annoyed glare, watching the grunts walk through the caf¨¦.


    "Don''t tell them what to do," responded the man next to him, speaking for everyone in the room. Simon glared at the man''s feline face and the greying fur around the tips of his muzzle, "It''s already bad enough you called us here so short notice."


    "You''re being paid well enough, aren''t you? And for the record, I didn''t pay you to smash a fucking window."


    "What does it matter? We''re trashing the place anyway, right?"


    "Yes, but a broken window can be seen from the outside. If anyone calls the police, then it will make things a lot more troublesome," Simon clicked his tongue, but the other man shook his head.


    "Not like this is going to take long. The only guys that live here are some random middle-aged weirdo and a freshly awakened kid. This many people''s already total overkill."


    "Don''t underestimate that ''freshly awakened kid''," Simon touched the plaster still on his nose. The swelling had gone down quite a bit, but you could still see that his broken bone was healing.


    "Exactly, you can''t underestimate him. Plus, 39 is not middle-aged. I''m technically still in my 30s, you know?" Runar added, throwing his arms around the two men from behind, as if he were casually joining two friends.


    He noticed Simon flinch as the Felisad''s fur stood on its end. They both wanted to move, but their bodies were completely paralysed.


    "Who- Wait, you''re that kid''s uncle, how the-"


    "Shut it," Runar interrupted Simon, who had alerted the grunts to the situation, "You''re paying for the window, by the way."


    With a casual stride, Runar took a few more steps forward while the grunts were looking at him confused. From their point of view, it was just another guy that had joined in, and especially seeing neither their boss nor the guy that was paying them do anything made them hesitant about what they should do. However, the Felisad quickly changed that.


    Baring his sharp teeth, his fangs being covered in a thin layer of gold, he hissed a command at his men, "Get this guy already you absolute imbeciles!"


    Seeing their boss'' expression and hearing his command, the grunts, a group made up of more Felisads and the dog-like Canirs, quickly came rushing at Runar. However, Runar simply stretched out his hand and wrote a single rune into the air. The moment he closed his eyes, that ancient symbol lit up in a bright light that fully illuminated the room in a bright flash for just a moment, as if he had summoned the sun to him.


    As they were recovering, Runar closed in on one of the Canirs, grabbing his arm and twisting it around with a clean motion. Together with the clean snap of some bones, a whimpered yelp sounded out.


    "Seriously? You''re gonna try to break into someone''s place despite being this weak?" Runar sighed as he pushed the canir back, making them fall onto their back. As this was happening, one of the felisads got to Runar, swinging a baseball at his back. But Runar just stood there, unamused, not even having flinched at the impact. He grabbed the bat, closing his grasp around it. The aluminium was crushed easily, and the cat-man let go of the bat nervously.


    "What the fuck?" he let out, backing away. The other grunts also seemed very hesitant at attacking Runar; he was an Awakened, and a powerful one at that. Figuring that he should just finish this, Runar held his pen forward and drew patterns into the air. The green writing fell apart into droplets that quickly flowed toward each of the five grunts, forming metal bands that wrapped itself around all of their ankles. As this was happening and the grunts anxiously tried to get rid of them, Runar wrote something else into the air.


    "S-Stop him, you morons!" their boss yelled out, but before they were able to do anything at all, Runar was finished. One of them tried swinging at Runar, but he fell forward as the metal bands were practically locked into their position. They weren''t heavy, it was just impossible to move them now.


    Now that this was taken care of, Runar turned back toward the two men that he already locked down with another method. From Runar''s own point of view, they were both enveloped in a thin layer of his green mana. Simon was clearly trying to do something to free himself, but the quality and density of Runar''s mana wasn''t something a guy like him would be able to go up against.


    "So, what was the plan supposed to be here? Trash the place, threaten Ryan, and get him to give up his class?" Runar asked, staring into the elf''s face, who was overcome with nothing but confusion.


    "Y-You''re not supposed to be an Awakened, you''re not registered, you-"


    "And you''re not supposed to break into other people''s places or fucking jump a kid, you little piece of-" Runar stopped himself and tried to calm down. The protective ward he secretly placed on Ryan already broke down today, so the idea of something else happening to him was more than just infuriating, "Who told you to do this?"


    "... I acted on my own. Getting our company a unique class? That kind of thing''s worth a hell of a bonus," Simon said with a nervous grin. Runar knew that he was lying. There was no way that even Bluesky would go this far without being pressured by someone, and considering what Ryan''s class was, that was even more obvious.


    Runar looked toward the felisad next to Simon, "Did he tell you anything?"


    Instead of saying anything, the man just tried to spit at Runar. He dodged it, of course, but it still annoyed him.


    Runar rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I''m going to go insane over this... Alright, so. You''ve got a couple of choices. First, you tell me everything you know, swear to never let me lay eyes on you ever again, and then get out of here with nothing more than a few bruises or broken bones. Second, I call the cops on you and let the legal system handle this. Or third, you refuse either of those options and I make you regret ever crossing the Aglecards."


    Simon flinched, "... What? But... that kid''s not... he said he wasn''t related to those Aglecards, so I checked the registry and every record I could find... there''s no connection between that brat, his father, and the Aglecard foundation!"


    Runar sighed, annoyed, "You really think records can''t be changed? Who do you take us for?" he clicked his tongue, "I''m just saying this once, as the current patriarch of the Aglecards, that my nephew is under my personal protection."


    The elf''s face went pale, "Patriarch?"


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    "I could explain, but why would I even bother? You know what, you''ve annoyed me too much, we''re going with choice number three," Runar snapped his finger, and the startled yelps of five grunts could be heard as the metal bands wrapped around their legs forced them to approach Runar.


    He wrapped his fingers around the first grunt''s throat, pulling his hand up until he was fully in control of the position and movement of that felisad''s head. Even though he tried to do everything he could to pull Runar''s hand away, the rune mage didn''t let that happen. Instead, he started writing something into the air right in front of the cat-man''s face. It was a complex collection of runes that came together into an intricate pattern. Once Runar activated it, the felisad''s eyes rolled back until only the whites could be seen. His hands fell to the sides of his body. It was like he was unconscious, yet still standing.


    Runar repeated this same thing with the other grunts, and then looked over at their boss, "Let me guess, he only hired you for this?"


    The two locked eyes, and the felisad hesitated to response. His instincts were telling him one thing; run. Usually his fight of flight response leaned toward the fight side, but that wasn''t even an option here. That attempted spit earlier was a rebellion against his instincts, but what followed was nothing but a deep, biological fear.


    "I-I... I''m just doing my job, I..." the felisad nervously whimpered, and Runar sighed, starting to write that same pattern into the air in front of him, "Fine. I can get all my answers from this stuck-up sparrow, then."


    "W-Wait, I-I''m sorry, just please don''t-"


    The man''s eyes rolled into the back of his head as his shoulders slumped, similarly unconscious as his subordinates. Runar snapped his fingers, making the metal bands disappear from the grunts'' legs while getting rid of the hold that he had on their boss, "You will all go back to your hideout, or homes, or wherever else you were gonna go after this. You will believe that when you came here, this elf guy... Simon, was it? He told you that the plan changed and sent you off. You will cut all ties with him for wasting your time. You will forget ever seeing me or speaking with me, or even that I exist. Oh, and the reason that guy''s arm is broken is that he got into a fight with the guy with the bat or something, and the bat broke in the process. Now, leave and never come back here."


    The moment Runar finished talking, the hired brutes made their way out of the caf¨¦, jumping back out through the broken window. They walked down the alley and disappeared without another word.


    Runar walked up to the window, grumbling to himself. He thought for a moment and then started writing a few more runes into the air. After the activation, each of the shards of glass was surrounded in what seemed to be a thin film of magic while Runar''s eyes were glowing with a similar magic. He squatted down and started picking up the pieces, putting them back together. The shards of glass practically fused back into one piece, but Runar was able to pick out the right parts as if he had the instructions right in front of him, "Should''ve made those guys do it before leaving."


    While he was repairing the window, Simon was still locked down, unable to move for the most part. However, even though he was surprised and wasn''t able to do anything right away didn''t mean that he was weak. He knew how to use magic quite well, and had been pushing the tendrils of his mana through the magic surrounding his body so that he could try and cast a spell.


    "I wouldn''t do that if I were you," Runar pointed out, glancing over at the elf.


    "I''m just trying to do my job here, alright? It''s not my fault that the bra-... that the kid awakened a unique class. They''re always popular with powerful people, you know?" Simon pointed out. Though it seemed like he was changing tactics into talking himself out of the situation, Runar could still feel the subtle movements of magic as Simon uselessly tried to break out of the spell.


    "But does that mean you have to stalk him and then try to jump him when you find out he can''t retaliate?" Runar asked, locking eyes with Simon for a moment.


    "... As I said, I''m just doing my job here."


    "Excuse me? I know Bluesky is a scummy, corrupt organization, but I didn''t expect them to openly teach people to act like delinquents," Runar laughed.


    "... While I admit that some sides of our business should rather stay hidden from the public, I don''t believe that is a correct characterization of Bluesky Industries."


    "Then you don''t know who you''re working for. Bluesky''s the scummiest of scum. The bottom of the barrel. The dragon''s litter."


    A frown formed on Simon''s face. Obviously he did believe in Bluesky, but there was no reason for him to completely defend the company even in the face of someone that was clearly so overwhelmingly more powerful than he was. Especially not considering the fact he was unable to move and utterly defenceless. But there was something bothering Simon, "You sound like you''ve dealt with Bluesky before."


    "Hm? Oh, yeah, plenty of times. Actually, I just went to this auction earlier, it was an underground thing where they sold drugs, weapons, magic beasts and even people as pets. Though I guess you might not consider them people just yet. Anyway, it''s almost exclusively funded by Bluesky. Well, legally there''s no connection, and they hid the paper trail far, far too well to do anything officially, but everyone kind of knows who''s the big-shot over there," Runar explained. Simon wanted to protest; a group as prestigious as Bluesky Industries would never stoop to running some sort of illegal auction like that. But at the same time, the fact that he was being told this so openly made the elf anxious.


    "... Why are you saying all this? Are you going to..." Simon asked, though he wasn''t even able to finish the question. With a loud laugh, Runar looked over toward him and shook his head.


    "At least you''ve got a sense of humour, huh? No, I''m not going to kill you, we don''t do that kind of thing. Though, you are going to forget everything that happened tonight, just like those guys earlier."


    "... What?"


    Runar chuckled to himself, "Well, tonight, plus the past... hmm, what sounds good... the past seven weeks? Yeah, seven sounds pretty good."


    "... Alright," Simon let out, closing his eyes for a moment. Frankly, losing memories of the past seven weeks was much preferable to dying, so if he had to choose, it was obvious. Though, it looked like neither was going to happen. The tendril''s of Simon''s mana had escaped the restraining shell around him, and he was able to start casting a spell. It was a very simple one too, one of the Arcane Trapper''s staples. It was quite destructive, but one of Simon''s class traits allowed him to completely ignore the magic damage from his own traps. Though, it would take a bit to set it up, and some conditions needed to be fulfilled by Runar.


    "I figured you''d complain about it a bit more. Losing your memories isn''t a fun thing, you know? It''s not the kind you usually hear about either, this type is permanent."


    Simon couldn''t help himself but laugh, "Permanent mental interference? Please, that''s just a myth."


    Runar shrugged, "So are pixies, and I have one in my basement."


    The elf''s heart skipped a beat. Runar was serious. He was so clearly serious about what he was saying. Simon was going to forget the past seven weeks without chance of recovery? That was... insane. Still better than dying, but insane.


    "Anyway, before that..." Runar started, taking a seat on the table behind him while looking at Simon, "Let''s get started with you telling me exactly who told you to ''acquire'' the Spirit Keeper class."


    "No, I don''t think so," Simon replied, a grin forming on his face. Runar was close enough to activate the trap.


    With a large, violent explosion, bright yellow flames filled the entirety of the caf¨¦''s interior. They swallowed the chairs and tables, and even Runar was completely enveloped. Simon couldn''t help himself but grin broadly as the shell holding him down shattered. With a loud laugh, Simon pushed the hair out of his face. A thin cloud of mist formed in front of his mouth as he spoke, "This is what happens when you... when you..."


    The realization came a bit delayed. Why was there mist when he was breathing and talking? Why was it so... cold? Of course, the flames shouldn''t hurt him, but he should still be feeling the heat. The flames faded away. Nothing was scorched, there wasn''t even the slightest hint of soot or damage, no matter where Simon looked. And Runar was still sitting on top of the table.


    "You done?" Runar looked back at him with a yawn, clearly bored by what was happening, "Gods, you''re acting like a toddler right now."


    Simon stared back at the man in front of him. That was his most destructive, powerful spell. And it didn''t even touch a single hair on Runar''s head. No, it was even worse than that. Runar had somehow made Simon''s flames cold.


    "What... what are you?"


    Runar sighed, pushing himself back off the table, "I said it before, right? I''m the patriarch of the Aglecard family."

 34 - Aides

    With an exhausted drag, Runar climbed up the stone stairs in front of his office, pushing open the door with a yawn. He stepped inside, seeing Ryan, Silvia and Modak huddled up around the coffee table.


    "Hm? What''re you guys doing?" he asked, curiously taking a step closer. And what he saw did surprise him. It was Maximus. Twice. Of course, there was the original Maximus, his silver armour with red highlight plates, just as he looked before Runar left. But right in front of him, mirroring that Maximus perfectly both in form and motion, stood an ink black counterpart.


    "Back already?" Ryan asked, surprised. He looked down at his phone, checking the time, "That was barely thirty minutes... it took us like ten to get down here."


    "As I said, there was just something small to take care of," Runar explained, squatting down next to the table, "So, exactly why are the Sprites copying Maximus?"


    Modak immediately snapped his head toward him, "So they really are Sprites?!"


    "Mhm. They''re made completely from mana. Like magic that has come to life," Runar smiled lightly, looking at the small black figure, "They''re actually pretty unique in some other ways. They both do and don''t have an individual, sapient experience. When Sprites are physically close, they synchronize with each other, sharing their minds and experiences with each other. But each one undeniably is an individual."


    Ryan glanced back at the Sprites. They had all fallen apart into that black mist and formed a single larger body that looked exactly like Maximus, "Hmm... so are they one of the people that you''re trying to help integrate?"


    Runar shrugged, "We''re working on it. Though in their case, similar to elementals, we''re less trying to help them be protected on a societal and legal level. Basically, we want them to be given the same rights and protections as Spirits."


    "... How would I come into all of this? How would I... help?" Ryan asked, looking up at Runar. He thought about it for a moment, but didn''t seem to have an answer ready.


    "Honestly? However you want to, I guess. I mean, your main task will always be centred around Spirits who don''t have the ability to form their own bodies, but beyond that, you can try and become part of any area of the Aglecard family," Runar explained, and Ryan seemed to take a moment to think about it. But that moment of silence was perfect for Silvia to ask something.


    "Right, about that," she started, her curiosity practically oozing out from every pore as her ears twitched to her heartbeat, "How come some spirits can''t form their own bodies? Plus, why does Maximus have a ''class''? I mean, Spirits can awaken and all, I know that, but that''s different from this, isn''t it?"


    Runar looked at the elf, sighing lightly. He knew this question was coming, but he knew that it wasn''t what they wanted to hear, "We don''t know. We have some guesses, but no proof."


    Silvia''s expression immediately drooped, "Seriously?"


    "Yeah, sorry about that," Runar chuckled, looking over at Maximus, "We have two main theories, though. One, all of those spirits without their own bodies are conceptual spirits, but their concept is system-adjacent. So, Maximus wouldn''t be a ''Spirit of Knighthood'', but rather-"


    "A ''Spirit of the Knight Class''?" Ryan finished the sentence, and Runar quickly nodded his head.


    "Exactly. There''s a lot of evidence to support it, but not totally. For example, what does the Knight class have to do with ''roots'' or ''plants''?"


    Immediately, everyone looked at Maximus'' body, even the Sprites that had come together to look at him. Maximus himself glanced at his arm, as well. He was overgrown with roots, and rather, his core was actively held in place by those roots. That was totally unrelated to the concept of ''Knights''.


    Modak turned back to his friend''s uncle, "So then what''s the other theory?"


    Runar hesitated for a moment, though he figured there was no need to hide this, "That there are spirits that simply don''t have the ability to form bodies on their own. The Spirit Keeper class was created as a reaction to that phenomenon, and when a spirit links with the keeper, they''re awakened into a class adjacent to their concept."


    "Excuse me?" Ryan let out in disbelief, "You think that the Spirit Keeper class can force others to awaken?"


    Runar sighed, shaking his head, "No, it''s just a theory. And it''s not ''others'', it''s just spirits."


    "Does it happen to other spirits? Ones that already have a body?"


    "No idea. A spirit that has a body already never joined the keeper. I don''t know if it''s impossible or something, but... it hasn''t happened yet, in a thousand years, so I wouldn''t count on it happening anytime soon," Runar explained, before letting out a loud groan, "Listen, I can keep telling you all this stuff, but..."


    Ryan looked at his uncle. He knew what Runar was saying, "I need to decide first?"


    "Yeah. Listen, I know it''s-"


    "I''m joining. I''m a part of this now," Ryan immediately said, and Runar pulled back, startled.


    He looked at his nephew hesitantly, "Are you sure? You don''t need more time to decide?"


    "I could push this decision back a year, but my choice will end up being the same."


    Runar let out a long sigh, closing his eyes in contemplation, "Fine," he stood back up, his hands on his hips, "In that case... I''m going to need a bit of time. You two sticking around as well?"


    Silvia and Modak didn''t hesitate to nod their heads, "Of course! If Ryan''s doing this, then so are we!"


    With a click of his tongue, Runar walked over to his desk, "Well, easier said than done. You two will just have to be considered Ryan''s aides for the time being, the Spirit Keeper always has a couple of those."


    "Aides? Like... assistants?" Ryan asked.


    "Uhh... basically, I guess. But it''s just an official thing to get the elders off my back about this," Runar explained, pulling open drawers on his desk to look for something. Finally, he grabbed what looked like two large coins with a thumb''s diameter. He used his fountain pen to write some runes on each of them, glancing at both Silvia and Modak every once in a while, and then threw each of them one of the coins.


    "So... what is this?" Modak asked, raising his brow curiously as he held the coin up to take a closer look. Runar placed his pen onto the table and walked toward the door, motioning for the three to follow him while he reached out to the sprites that were still in the shape of Maximus. Seeing as they were prompted to, they quickly popped apart and back into their original forms, quickly climbing up Runar''s arm until they reached his head. They quickly hid between the strands of his messy hair.


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    "We use them as a sort of ID. Just a symbol for those that belong to this side of the Aglecards, so if anyone here tries to cause trouble for you, show it to them. I put some extra protections onto them as well, so keep the coin close, preferably even while you''re sleeping," Runar closed the door behind everyone and led them back to the exit.


    Silvia looked around a bit confused, "Wait, are we leaving? I thought you''re going to fill us in."


    "Tonight?" Runar sighed, "Do you know how late it is? Go home, rest, make sure your parents know you''re alright, and come back tomorrow around 3pm."


    "Awe man... does that mean we''ll have to climb up all the stairs again?" Silvia asked as they all walked along the road of these ancient ruins hidden below the city.


    "Get used to it, you''ll have to come into ruins like this plenty from now on," Runar laughed, walking up to a nearby building. He scooped up the sprites from his head and held them toward the wall. They all quickly looked over at Silvia, Ryan, Modak and Maximus, who was being carried by Ryan, and waved at them a few times before jumping right into a hole in the wall.


    And with that, the small group made their way back upstairs, leaving the underground village behind for now. Runar locked the basement door with that old key, bringing Silvia and Modak outside.


    Ryan quickly hugged them, "Thanks for everything, guys. Seriously."


    "Don''t mention it, man," Modak smiled, looking toward the caf¨¦''s door, "I mean, you''re letting us be a part of a secret society... that''s kinda neat, right?"


    "Just ''kinda''? Are you kidding me?" Silvia replied immediately, "This is so freaking awesome!"


    Ryan smiled at his friends, about to send them off when Runar stopped them.


    "What are you guys doing?" he asked, his brow raised. Modak looked at him confused.


    "We''re heading home? As you told us?"


    "Yeah, but you''re not going by train, not after everything that happened today," Runar pointed at the expensive, black car that was parked right in front of the building, "They''re going to drive you home tonight."


    Startled, the orc looked at the car, not sure what to think, "Wait, seriously?"


    Runar nodded, walking up to the passenger side window. It rolled down slightly, though just a slit, "You have the addresses, right?"


    Though there didn''t seem to be an answer, Runar quickly looked at Silvia and Modak.


    "Get into the back. Oh, and don''t bother trying to talk to them, they''re not very talkative," he explained. Even if they were a bit curious now that Runar had said this, they were also very excited. They got into the back of the car, waving at Ryan as they did so, and the car quickly pulled out into the road and disappeared a moment later, leaving the uncle-nephew pair alone.


    They silently stood on the sidewalk. Ryan turned around, walking back to the door to make his way into the caf¨¦ again. As he dropped onto one of the nearby chairs, he looked up at his uncle who had followed him back inside.


    "Would you have ever told me about this if I hadn''t awakened?" Ryan asked, and Runar slowly opened his mouth, but Ryan wasn''t finished yet, "You know, actually, scratch that. Even after I awakened, after I showed Maximus to you, after I found Gaia''s first shard... you weren''t planning on telling me. Even with some fucking weird miasma or whatever stuck to my chest, you were hesitating to tell me."


    Runar pulled up a chair and slowly sat down on it. He was moving so slow that Ryan was wondering if he was trying to buy time to come up with an answer.


    "Listen, I... I promised your father not to get you involved in this."


    "Excuse me? My father, who apparently caused the death of, and crippled even more, spirits that all trusted in him? Why the hell would you do that? Why did you even get involved with him again?" Ryan asked, not sure what he was supposed to think about this whole situation. Knowing his father did something like that made him sick to the stomach. He didn''t know why Runar would want to welcome someone like that back into his life.


    "It''s... complicated."


    "Dude, I don''t care how complicated it is. If that''s really what happened, that''s inexcusable. Or are you still hiding something? Something that makes what he did suddenly ''okay''?"


    Runar looked down at the ground, as if he was embarrassed to face his nephew, "No. There''s nothing that would ever make what Hayden did okay. And I did hate him after he left for what he did, but... he was still my brother. I asked him so many times why he chose to cut off the connection to the system, but he wouldn''t tell me. And... and he was sick, alright? How could I..."


    Even though he wasn''t sure exactly what to feel, Ryan looked at his uncle and his expression. At the white knuckles of his fist. He had no idea what the situation was like from Runar''s point of view.


    "Sorry, it''s just very... weird, you know? Suddenly being told all of this, I mean," Ryan explained, letting his head fall into his neck. No matter what the two spoke about now, it would be impossible for Ryan to collect his thoughts well enough to have a fully coherent conversation about everything. So instead, he moved on to something else.


    "So... you guys have other spirit cores?" he asked, and Runar looked at his nephew with raised brows.


    "Right, of course, we do! We have one that''s responsive and awake, though we obviously haven''t been able to communicate properly. Then there''s one that seems awake, but doesn''t respond no matter what we do. And then we have small fragments of two more cores," Runar explained, trying to recall the exact number, "We don''t know which they are, though."


    "Then... do you think I could meet them?"


    "Obviously! It''s going to take a little while to get them here though, I''ll keep you updated," a smile formed on Runar''s face, as if he was excited to get this done and give those spirits a proper home.


    "Right, thanks. Uhm... I do have one more question though," Ryan started, and Runar''s smile immediately dropped, "... Why exactly am I building spirits like they''re plastic models?"


    Relieved that it was just that, Runar let out a laugh, "Oh, that. Well, that part of the Spirit Keeper''s abilities present differently for everyone. Every Keeper has a knack for building things, obviously, but it sort of focuses on what they''re used to. One of them was a sculptor, who would carve their bodies out of wood or stone. Another a blacksmith who had to forge their bodies. Your father was really into model building, and that''s how it presented for him. Guess it was lucky that your dad kept his tools and that you had the same interests."


    "Huh," Ryan let out, a bit surprised, "So how would the blacksmith have made, like, Maximus'' roots?"


    "Oh, all the spirits that were with him were just fully made of metal, it just looked a bit more like wood, I guess. I mean, the one that Hayden, and now you, built were made of plastic and fabric, so-"


    "No, Maximus is made of metal. Like, real metal. And the roots are made of wood, and his gloves are made of leather," Ryan interrupted, and Runar seemed to freeze up for a moment.


    "... What?"


    "Yeah, like... he''s made of metal, not plastic. Didn''t I tell you about that?"


    "I don''t believe you did. That... I''ll look into our records to double-check things about the past Spirit Keepers, but that shouldn''t be the case," Runar placed his hand in front of his mouth in contemplation, "I mean, it''s good... but a bit weird, that''s all. Maybe when Hayden cut his connection to the system and forcefully removed his class, some changes were made to it."


    Ryan looked over at Maximus, but he really just seemed to be curious about his own body after Runar mentioned this. But, his uncle just mentioned something that interested him, "You took records of the class? Do you have like a skill catalogue?"


    "Of course. I can get it to you. We store all our data physically, since it''s easier to safeguard it. But it should be easy enough to get a copy here together with the cores," Runar pushed himself off his seat, patting his nephew on the shoulder, "But for now, go upstairs and rest. Dealing with the corruption in your body must be exhausting."


    "... By the way, we''re getting rid of that, right?" Ryan asked, pointing at his chest, and Runar laughed and nodded without hesitation.


    "Of course we are, I''ll be working out a way to do it safely, but we''ve got a little bit of time for now. So again, just rest."


    Ryan nodded his head, standing up as well. He let out a slight sigh while pulling Maximus back into his domain. Without much else to say, he made his way upstairs. He awkwardly pushed off his trousers and dropped into his bed, throwing his arm over his eyes.


    "What the actual fuck, man."

 35 - Liam

    "Open your eyes, servant!" a voice yelled out practically right next to Ryan''s head. Startled, he jumped up and threw his legs over the side of the bed.


    "What the-" he yelled out, staring at the face of the person that the voice came from. It was a kid, with short, pure white hair that practically melted into his just as pale skin. It all just made his practically glowing blue eyes stick out even more. The kid was standing there, fists on his hips, and practically showing off the prominent fangs in his mouth.


    "Perfect! Now swear your eternal loyalty to me, offering me your neck to seal the contract!"


    Ryan stared at the boy as the memories from last night caught back up to him, "You''re the vampire kid, right? The one that''ll be staying with us?"


    Smugly, the boy smirked and nodded his head, "I see that my legend has spread far and wide already! Now, show me your-"


    Ryan rolled his eyes and got up from his bed. He walked out of the open door into the hallway, quickly making his way to what used to be Runar''s office up here. Though, it was clear that it was just for show, now that Ryan had seen the one below the caf¨¦. The boy was startled and followed him.


    "Did you not hear me, servant?! Show me your-"


    "Yo, Runar, what the hell is happening?" Ryan asked, stepping into the room. His uncle stood there, sorting in some books from a cardboard box into the shelf. He turned around surprised.


    "Hm?" he let out, as his eyes moved from Ryan over to the boy standing next to him, "Oh, you already met? You could have slept a bit longer, it''s still pretty early."


    "I would have, if this kid hadn''t yelled into my ear," Ryan glared down at the boy, though he felt a bit silly for it. He was just a kid. Kids were assholes. Everyone knew that.


    Runar let out a long sigh, "Right, I should have warned you. Liam is a bit... loud."


    "I simply have a voice befitting a king! One that can be heard across the battlefield!" Liam proudly exclaimed, letting out a loud laugh immediately after.


    "It''s 1354, I don''t think you want to get involved in the battlefields we''ve got going on these days," Ryan pointed out, but Liam simply let out a long sigh, shaking his head disappointedly.


    "And this is why you''re a mere servant, you simply don''t understand the art of war."


    "... Runar, why is he talking like this? He''s creeping me out."


    "He was raised by one of the elders, who just happens to be a total historical-fiction nut," Runar admitted, finishing placing the last book from the box onto the shelf before walking up to Liam, speaking to him directly, "We spoke about this, right?"


    Liam smugly nodded his head, "Yes, you told me not to make the children at school my servants! You did not say anything about the peasant wasting away in the other chambers!"


    Awkwardly, Runar looked over at Ryan, who was just showing a bit of an expression of defeat, "Sorry, he''s... just kind of like this."


    "I can see that," Ryan responded, "Definitely the best choice to show others that vampires are normal people. Also, tell him to stop asking me to show him my neck."


    Runar immediately snapped his head toward Liam, "Excuse me?"


    The boy pulled back slightly, "I... well, that''s what the vampires in my books always did, and..."


    Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Runar sighed loudly, "Yes, and it''s not only very dangerous but also really inefficient. No sane vampire feeds like that any more. Do you not like the blood we''ve been giving you?"


    "... The artificial blood tastes so bland. No flavour," Liam pointed out, glancing toward Ryan, "But it''s not about food anyway! It''s about him showing his loyalty and servitude to me!"


    "Ryan is not your servant. Nobody is your servant. Stop doing that, or the other kids will think you''re weird."


    "Hmph!" Liam huffed, pushing out his chest, "You may call it ''weird'', but I call it the aura of a noble!"


    Ryan smirked lightly, patting the kid on the top of his head as he turned back around, "Oh you''re going to be bullied so bad."


    While Liam was trying to protest, Runar peaked out the doorway, "Put on some pants while you''re walking around the flat."


    "Calm down, I''m wearing boxers. It''s only us anyway, right?" Ryan yawned as he tiredly turned into the kitchen, scratching his belly with closed eyes. As he opened them again, he saw two people he didn''t know. A dwarf with a finely braided beard that had jewellery woven into it, standing in front of the counter to make himself a sandwich. And seated right at the table was a young demon woman with intricately carved horns and black tattoos creeping up on her neck on her blood-red skin.


    Ryan looked at the two people, who awkwardly stared at him as he stood there only wearing a loose, old shirt and boxer shorts. He was trying to process the information for a few moments, but then just gave up and walked up to the fridge, pulling it open to grab the milk carton. He turned to the dwarf.


    "Don''t use up all the gouda, please. Wanted to use some for lunch," Ryan requested, pulling the package of granola off the top of the fridge.


    "A-Aye, of course!" the dwarf stuttered out, not sure what else to say, as Ryan grabbed himself a bowl and spoon. He poured some of the granola into a bowl and poured milk over it, and after returning both to where he grabbed them from, he sat down at the kitchen table to eat with his phone pulled out.


    Quickly turning around the corner to see what was going on, Runar let out a long sigh, "Ryan, what are you doing?"


    "Eating breakfast?"


    "You could also introduce yourself."


    "Bro, I''m tired as shit, just found out that we''re part of a secret society, and had a vampire try to yell me into subservience," Ryan replied, "Let me be antisocial for a bit."


    Runar sighed loudly, starting to sign toward the demon, "Fine, whatever. Anders, Yamada, that''s Ryan. I told you about him. Ryan, these are Anders and Yamada, my ''aides''. Well, they''re like assistants, really."


    Nervously, only just now realizing he hadn''t introduced himself, the dwarf stepped up to Ryan and stretched out his hand. Trying not to groan, Ryan grabbed the man''s hand and forced out a smile.


    "Anders Steinberg, pleasure to work with ya!"


    "Ryan Aglecard. Likewise," he replied, before having another hand stretched out to him. The demon shook Ryan''s hand silently as he glanced over at Runar.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Do you know any sign language?" Runar asked, and Ryan shook his head.


    "Not really... should I learn?"


    "Wouldn''t hurt. You''ll probably need to learn a few other languages too. Which second languages did you take in school again?"


    Letting out a loud groan, Ryan remembered that annoying past, "Just Gardian, my school didn''t offer anything else."


    "Better than nothing, I guess," Runar rubbed the back of his head, "Well, sociability should help with that."


    Ryan raised his brows, "Sociability makes it easier to learn languages?"


    "To some degree. It definitely increases your language-processing ability, and learning languages is a decent training method for the sociability stat," his uncle responded, continuing to sign so that Yamada could follow along properly, "But whatever, that''s not important right now. Luckily Yamada does know how to read lips to a degree."


    "Got it," Ryan replied, looking up at Runar, "So, what''s the plan for today?"


    Runar looked over at Anders, who quickly took out a notepad from his pocket and flipped it open, "We''ll be grabbin'' some more things for the lad, then we''re droppin'' by our men in Eastbanks ta'' get some pixie grub, and then in the evenin'' we''ve got an appointment at the symbiote nest fer Ryan."


    Hearing something that he didn''t expect, Ryan''s spoon stopped mid-air right before his mouth. He slowly lowered it and stared at Runar, "The ''what'' nest?"


    "I''ll explain it to you later. It''s nothing bad, don''t worry," Runar replied, before turning back to Anders, "Did you hear back from the legal department about that Vanda girl?"


    Anders immediately nodded his head, "Aye, just earlier today we got the university to drop the charges against ''er. We''re roundin'' up the ones that witnessed it and havin'' them sign an NDA as well, so by the start of the week things should be settled."


    Ryan glanced at his phone. It was barely 9am. How did they already get everything figured out?


    "... The power of money is terrifying," Ryan muttered to himself, suppressing a shudder.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Modak pulled open the door, stepping into the robotics clubroom. There weren''t many people here; just Kit, Richie, Vanda, and some man in a black suit and slicked-back hair. The man turned around as Modak stepped into the room.


    "Excuse me, we''re having a private conversation. Would you mind waiting outside for the time being? It will just take another minute." the man asked, and Modak looked over at Richie confused. Vanda was seated on a stool, her face still buried in her hands.


    Richie looked at the man and quickly explained, "He was here yesterday as well, he knows what happened anyway. Actually, he helped take the thing down," the gnome replied, and the man raised his brows, glancing at Modak from behind his thick glasses.


    He took out a small notepad from his pocket, "What''s your name?"


    Hesitantly, Modak stepped further into the room. Not sure what was going on, he looked at the others for help, and Richie just nodded toward him, before the orc responded, "Modak Stonebreaker."


    The man frowned immediately, "I see. In that case, before we continue, I need you to sign something before we continue."


    Even more confused, Modak shook his head, "I''m not signing anything."


    "Don''t worry, it''s just a simple non-disclosure agreement. What happened yesterday was an accident that should not have happened. An experimental power source was recently illegally acquired and made its way here, causing some small interference with electronics," the man explained, taking out a folded-up contract from his chest pocket and placing it onto a nearby table. Modak stared at him, glancing at the small pin that he had on his chest. It was a cursive ''A'', one that Modak had already seen before. He sighed lightly and pushed his hand into his pocket, pulling out the coin he was given last night. Modak tried to hold it in a way where the man could see it but Richie, Vanda, and Kit couldn''t, and the man''s eyes widened for a quick moment before a broad smile appeared on his face.


    "Ah, actually, I remember your name being amongst the ones that already signing the contract, correct? In that case, there is nothing to worry about," the man quickly said, before turning back to the three students behind him, "Well, as I said, please contact us if you have any inquiries about damages to personal property. We are ready to fairly compensate you for any issues our out-of-control power source caused."


    Without further ado, the man then walked past Modak, giving him a quick nod, before walking out of the clubroom.


    "... What was that just now?" Richie asked with a confused frown, "He just left like that?"


    "Was he bothering you?" Modak glanced back at the door, but Richie shook his head.


    "Not really bothering us. He was just being pretty pushy about everything that happened yesterday," he explained, glancing over at Vanda.


    Modak looked at the three nervously, "So you''re all okay?"


    " ''Okay'' may not be the right word," Kit pointed out, clopping his hooves on the ground, clearly annoyed. Vanda sunk into herself even more.


    "I... I''m sorry, I didn''t know that was going to happen, I just..." Vanda started, but she wasn''t able to finish her sentence, unable to find the right words to explain everything. And Modak knew exactly why; she had no idea how to explain things. She just knew that her robot rampaged.


    "Where did you get that thing anyway? They called it an ''experimental power source'', but Ryan mentioned something about some kind of core? Does he know what that was?" Richie wondered, looking directly at Modak as he spoke. The orc hesitated. He obviously wasn''t able to just tell them what was going on, now that he knew what he knew, but he also couldn''t just leave them completely in the dark.


    "It looks like it has something to do with Ryan''s class? You''ll have to ask him, I only know a few surface level things," Modak tried to excuse himself from that sort of conversation. Acting like he didn''t know anything was the best for the time being, "But more importantly, what about the showcase thing? It''s been cancelled, right?"


    Richie nodded, "Yeah, we had to push it back a few weeks. That''s why the three of us are here right now, talking about what to do next, since our duellists are the ones that broke. But Vanda, she..."


    "I''m not participating any more," the hobgoblin shook her head immediately, "I ruined everything! Because of me, both of your Duellists are broken, and I-"


    "Lightspeed is not completely broken," Kit interrupted, and Vanda slowly glanced at him. The minogid quickly explained, "Its arm was torn off, and it short-circuited in response, but it should be something repairable over the next few weeks."


    "And I was just doing it for fun anyway," Richie shrugged, "It''s kind of a shame that Roxie broke, but as long as nobody got seriously hurt, it''s alright."


    "But... but you got hurt, and Ryan did as well, so I-"


    Richie quickly interrupted her, "It was just a bit of a shock to my magic circuitry. It''s happened plenty of time while I was trying to learn new spells."


    "And Ryan''s alright too," Modak added, "His hand got a bit scratched up, but by the time we were at his place he didn''t seem to really care any more."


    Vanda slowly looked up at the others around her, "I ruined everything, why are you being so... nice?"


    "Because that clearly was an accident," Richie laughed a bit, rubbing his bulbous nose as he leaned against the table behind him, "I mean, you''re definitely to blame for how you acted while things were going on... Energiser was rampaging and you were begging Ryan not to destroy it, but I also get why you did that. But at the end of the day, this all started because of an accident. If you could purposefully make something like that, you''d be a genius amongst geniuses. And you''re smart, but you''re not that smart. No offence."


    Vanda scoffed lightly, in disbelief over what she was hearing. She rubbed her tears out of her eye, "Even so, the others don''t think the same, right?"


    Richie rubbed the back of his head. It was true that the other club members were furious about what happened, even though they were able to get away pretty quickly without any of their private property being damaged. And while the gnome personally didn''t believe that it was Vanda''s fault, it was also hard to blame others for being upset and not wanting Vanda to be a member of the club any more. It was a ''weird'' situation, to say the least. Even Modak wasn''t totally sure about it for a bit, but by the time he realized that Vanda wasn''t even able to speak about who gave her the fragment, it was clear she was just used by someone with a bigger goal in mind.


    "I''m sure we can figure something out, alright?" Richie suggested, and Vanda slowly nodded her head. Kit also seemed ready to forgive her, especially after hearing her side of things.


    The minogid slowly stroked his goatee in thought, "Do you think it would be possible for you to create a new prototype Duellist until the new showcase?"


    Vanda shook her head without hesitation, "Are you kidding? It took me months to build the old one. And I don''t have the money either. Plus, even if I did have everything, I''d just run into the same old problems as before."


    "About that..." Modak started, looking at Vanda while pulling something out of his bag. He had texted her earlier, and she said she was here, so he figured coming to this place on his way to Ryan''s place would save him some time. The orc soon held forward his mana tape and customized tape recorder, "That''s actually what I''m here for. Your issue was that you weren''t able to create high-frequency mana patterns, right? I think I''ve got a solution for that."

 36 - Emotion

    Silvia stretched as she climbed out of bed, a broad smile on her face. She glanced at her phone, seeing a message from Fae, and her smile grew even bigger as she took her phone to respond.


    Almost too energetically considering she just woke up, Silvia practically skipped out of her room and made her way downstairs into the bathroom to get ready. As she was brushing her teeth, Yanna walked past the open door, glancing inside.


    "Wait, you were here?" she asked surprised, "You were out pretty late, I thought you''d be staying over somewhere," Yanna pointed out, grinning as she said so. But Silvia just shook her head, not minding the slight tease.


    "Nope, but I am hanging out with Fae tomorrow. I was just with Modak and Ryan last night," the young elf explained, and Yanna seemed a bit confused at that.


    She leaned against the door frame curiously, "So what''s got you this giddy all of a sudden?"


    "Alright, so, yesterday, we-" Silvia was almost about to just spill it all. She has never kept any sort of secret from her sister before. But at the same time, this wasn''t her secret to tell, "... Actually, I don''t think I can tell you... sorry. It''s a Ryan thing, if anyone, he has to tell you. But don''t be mad if he doesn''t, it''s... complicated."


    "Now you''ve got me really curious," Yanna slightly leaned forward, "But well, if he wants to tell me, he''ll tell me."


    Just before the minotaur was about to turn back around, the doorbell was rung. Yanna smiled lightly, "I''ve got it."


    "Thanks~!" Silvia replied, continuing with her morning routine as Yanna made her way one more floor downstairs to get to the door. Silvia could hear the door open and her sister''s strong voice spoke.


    And then, there was another woman''s voice. It was muffled by the time it got all the way up here, but she still shuddered. Silvia''s grip on her toothbrush tightened, and her heart beat heavy in her chest as her breathing sped up. Her sight turned hazy as a flood of thoughts forced itself into her head, all moving together into a massive wall that blocked any coherent idea, or any action that she could do. Close the door, drop her toothbrush. Even dropping onto the ground was something she wasn''t able to do.


    Her knees locked up, and her body froze, petrified like she had been just a statue all along. She didn''t even hear the door close a moment later, her thoughts drowning out everything else that was going on around her. Even when Yanna came back to her, she didn''t notice up until her sister touched her shoulder.


    All the tension disappeared in an instant, like a pressed-down spring that was finally released. Silvia pulled back, staring at Yanna, startled and shaking.


    "Wh-Who w-w-was-" Silvia let out, but she wasn''t able to even finish her thought before Yanna wrapped her arms around her younger sister.


    "It''s alright, don''t worry. I told her to leave, okay? She''s gone," Yanna held Silvia tightly, feeling her anxious shakes vibrating throughout the elf''s whole body, "I''ll call dad, okay?"


    Silvia forced out a slow nod as she tightened her grip on the back of Yanna''s shirt, as the minotaur ground her teeth in pure fury.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Ouch, dude, come on!" Ryan flinched, pulling away his hand from Runar. He just stared back at his nephew and rolled his eyes.


    "Stop complaining, I''m just swapping out your bandages. If you stopped acting like you''re not hurt and actually were a bit more careful with your hand, this probably wouldn''t hurt as much," Runar pointed out as he started wrapping up Ryan''s hand with clean bandages. The cuts on his palm that he got from grabbing Energiser right after it went berserk had closed well enough, and due to the healing salve, there wasn''t all too much swelling either. But that probably just made it easier for Ryan to use his hand for things while ignoring the fact that he was clearly injured.


    "The burns only just healed, what the hell are you doing? Wear some gloves, will you?"


    "I was wearing gloves in the dungeon, they didn''t help either," Ryan defended himself, "And it''s not like I could''ve predicted what happened yesterday."


    "... Still. Take better care of your hands, alright? You can''t help the spirits if your hands are completely messed up."


    Ryan looked at his uncle and inwardly sighed, trying to ignore just how rough Runar was being as he wrapped up his hand. He slowly glanced over at the boy sitting on the living room couch, distractedly flipping through channels on the TV. They were on the other side of the room, and he tried to speak in a low voice, "So... you said he was raised by one of the elders?"


    Runar glanced up at Ryan and turned his head to Liam for a moment, "Officially, at least. In reality, I imagine it was more like he was raised in one of that elder''s hidden facilities. I''m sure you can count the amount of conversations they''ve held on both hands."


    "... And that was enough for Liam to start acting like he''s a king in some grand story?"


    "He''s an awakened above level 70, Ryan" Runar explained, "There''s no sane high-level Awakened. All the facilities that guy runs are basically larp-camps."


    Taken aback, Ryan stared at his uncle, "Level 70? Seriously?"


    "We have a lot of powerful people in our family."


    Runar stood up after finishing the bandage, as a question that Ryan has been curious about almost since the beginning popped into his head, "So... what level are you?"


    The rune mage slowly turned around, a slight grin forming on his lips, "That''s a secret."


    "Oh come on, seriously?"


    "There''s literally no person beside me that knows my level, so yes, seriously. There''s a reason why I''m not registered; you have to get your level measured regularly," Runar pointed out, "Now come on, it''s almost three. Silvia and Modak said they''re on their way, right?"


    "Yeah, they should get here any minute now," Ryan responded, "So what are we even doing today?"


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "Nothing much. Just meeting people, introducing yourself to everyone downstairs, learning a bit about the things that we have to do. I also called over an acquaintance from the Magic Tower to help us track down Gaia''s last fragment."


    "Wait, seriously? You know someone from the Magic Tower?"


    "Yes, I know someone from the Magic Tower. I... briefly worked there after I Awakened," Runar hid his face as though he were embarrassed about it, and Ryan couldn''t help himself but let out a short laugh of disbelief.


    "Are you serious? You worked at the magic tower?"


    "It wasn''t really ''working''. I was like 13, it was more like an internship."


    "You awakened at 13? As a mage?!"


    His disbelief had practically turned into shock as Runar looked at his nephew with an annoyed look on his face, "I get that it''s not normal, but I feel like you''re being a bit insulting... The Aglecard bloodline is predisposed to magic users, and I happened to be a little talented. That''s all."


    "No, but like..." Ryan looked away as he tried to gather his thoughts, "How the hell do you always keep forgetting the pin to your phone? It''s like four digits, I was legitimately worried about you at some point, but you''re the type of genius that can awaken at 13 and start working in the magic tower?"


    Runar just shrugged, as though he had already accepted it, "I''m bad with tech, that''s all."


    "That- That has nothing to do with being bad with tech; your pin is your birthday!"


    "Hmm... Nah, I think it''s just the tech," Runar pointed out, but Ryan still wasn''t convinced.


    "Didn''t you say you linked up your phone so you can use it from downstairs or something? That doesn''t sound like you''re bad with tech to me."


    "Well, that wasn''t about tech. I just adapted the ''Message'' spell into a semi-permanent link between two points."


    Ryan narrowed his eyes, glaring at his uncle, "I have no reference point for how insane that is, but it sounds insane."


    "Oh, shut up already," Runar walked up behind the couch, knocking on the top of the young vampire''s head, "Liam, you too, come on."


    "Huh? Why would I do something like that?" the boy huffed, clearly not feeling like joining, but Runar already prepared the perfect answer and replied smugly.


    "Don''t you want to meet all your potential subjects downstairs?"


    Liam immediately perked up curiously, "That... does sound like the duty of a king, I assume. Very well! I shall accompany you two!"


    Clearly excited now, Liam jumped up from the couch and ran into the hallway to put his shoes on, a broad smile plastered on his face. Rolling his eyes, Ryan picked up the remote and turned off the TV, "Dude, do you want him to get bullied at school or something?"


    Runar shook his head with a slight yawn, "Oh, calm down, it''s not that bad. He''s got a big personality, people gravitate toward people like that. And it''s not like he''s a bad kid, there''s a reason why we picked him out for the test run."


    "... Alright, that''s fair. Just make sure he doesn''t yell at me to show him my neck again."


    Runar laughed quietly and nodded his head, "I''ll try my best."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Excuse me? What do you mean, it''s not happening?" Christopher stared at the man in front of him, who pulled back nervously. He was scratching his neck nervously, making the Lizardman''s scales almost pop off. Being faced with the fury of a Boa-Lamia was more than just nerve-wrecking.


    "The... the event of New Riverside University''s robotics club showing off their latest project has been pushed back. There was an incident yesterday where one of the... where one of the robots went out of control and broke a bunch of private and university property," the man slowly explained as Christopher''s unblinking glare only got more intense.


    "No, it was supposed to go out of control today, during the showcase, not yesterday. I specifically made sure that it wouldn''t go off during the last tests yesterday," the lamia ground his teeth together, pushing down at the desk in front of him. Moving around erratically, his tail was bumping into nearby furniture, "What happened to Vanda?"


    "... The girl was questioned by the police and the university immediately chose to press charges," the man started, hesitating to finish what he was saying, "How- However, early this morning, the university has dropped those charges."


    "Hah? Why would they do that? Vanda''s got no contacts, no power, nothing. That''s why I picked her for this."


    "... Looking at the records, the university has just received a large donation from the Honeydew Fund, one of the Aglecard Foundation''s-"


    "I know what the bloody Honeydew Fund is!" with an almost deranged hiss, Christopher hit the desk. A nearby couch was pushed across the room into a bookshelf from the force of the lamia''s tail violently swinging around. The lizardman flinched as books from the shelf dropped onto the ground and the couch, "Fine, whatever. You recovered the fragment though, right? We can just try again with something else."


    The lizardman''s heart skipped a beat. He couldn''t answer that question. There was no way he could. Christopher would have his head, and it wasn''t even his fault! However, with the lamia''s deep glare laying on his scales, he had no other choice but to finally respond, "We... we sent someone in to retrieve the fragment, but we were unable to find it."


    The lamia''s fingers dug into the surface of the desk, "Excuse me? You''re telling me that we not only lost a prime opportunity, but we lost both the fragment and a seed of corruption?"


    "There... there''s more to it," the lizardman explained. Christopher would find out sooner or later anyway, and it was better to just say it here now instead of being punished for hiding it later, "... They called an ambulance as someone was injured during yesterday''s events. According to the reports, they treated a student named ''Ryan Aglecard'' due to the injuries he received while subduing the rampant robot."


    Christopher stared at the lizardman, "Excuse me? Why was he there? Why was he at the robotics club, of all places?!"


    "I... It looks like they were trying to have test-duels between the robots and the spirit that he cont-"


    "Get out," Christopher turned his head away, placing his hand in front of his eyes. The lizardman wasn''t sure if he had heard right, and was about to ask for confirmation, when Christopher turned back around and swung his arms across the desk. The monitor, keyboard, notes, and small trinkets were all thrown onto the ground, "I told you to get out!"


    Once the man was out of the room, Christopher ground his teeth together, pulling out his phone. He dialled a number. It rang a few times, but nobody responded, "This little..."


    So, instead, Christopher dialled another number, and someone picked up before the first ring even finished, "Mister Blanchard! What a pleasure to hear from you! How can I help?"


    "Put me through to Simon Grand immediately."


    The man on the other side of the phone was silent for a few moments, before responding with a tone of voice that showed that bad news were about to follow, "... Simon Grand is currently being treated at a hospital. He will be unable to work for the time being. We were actually about to call you and introduce you to a new employee that could take over his-"


    "Was he injured? I thought you have world-class healers at your company for situations like this."


    A nervous laugh came from the other side of the phone, "Mister Blanchard, while I have no idea what ''situations'' you are speaking of, Simon''s issues do not seem to be injury-based."


    Christopher frowned, "Then what''s the issue? I need to talk to him, I have to ask him some questions about my request."


    "... That is exactly the issue, Mister Blanchard. Simon has no memories of the past two months, believing us to be in the month of Notis instead of Konter. He will be unable to continue to work with you on this request. I truly apologize for this inconvenience, but we promise to make it up to you as well as we can. We..."


    Even though the man on the other side of the phone was hurriedly trying to explain the future plan of actions, Christopher wasn''t paying attention. His tail was moving around him, tightening around the legs of a chair, crushing it under the pressure of a boa-lamia''s muscles. Staring at the shadow that he was casting onto the ground due to the sunlight pouring into the room behind him, Christopher almost shivered in anger.


    "So the Aglecards are involved, and have the fragment now. And Ryan has probably been pulled into the main family now. That''s fine. I still have a few more tricks up my sleeve."

 37 - Factions

    "Alright guys, this is Liam. He''s the vampire kid that''ll be staying with Runar and I from now on," Ryan stood next to the boy and introduced him to his friends.


    Modak smiled as though he were looking at his siblings. Zigg and Mogh were a bit younger than him, but they were around the same height as Liam. He figured that maybe those three could become friends, "Nice to meet you, Liam. I''m-"


    "A sturdy orc and a beautiful elf, I see. They will do," Liam nodded his head approvingly, before getting a light slap to the back of the head. It was really just enough to get his attention and not hurt him, though.


    "Don''t be rude. And don''t call people older than you ''beautiful'', that''s just weird," Ryan scoffed lightly. Rather than finding Liam annoying, he was starting to understand the humour in the boy''s actions. The fact he was being so serious about it all just made it funnier. Obviously that was only the case as long as he didn''t start actively insulting others.


    "Ow! Don''t hit me, I''m just speaking the truth!" Liam complained, clearly overacting how much that light tap hurt. Ryan rolled his eyes and looked at his friends.


    "That''s Modak and Silvia, they''re my best friends. Treat them well, please, and don''t treat them like servants. That''s not what they are."


    "I mean... technically we''re your ''aides'' now, right?" Silvia pointed out with a slight laugh. She was looking pretty rough despite trying to act as she usually did. Modak seemed to have noticed it earlier as well, but right now wasn''t the time to talk about it. Not in front of everyone else. And she said she would be fine, so Ryan and Modak had to trust that.


    Ryan shrugged lightly, "Just officially though. Anyway, Liam, don''t be a dick to my friends."


    "Don''t call him a dick, he''s 10," Runar yelled out from across the caf¨¦, holding a wooden crate in his hands that he brought from upstairs.


    "Yeah, but he''s also being a dick," Ryan shrugged, and Runar simply sighed loudly.


    "Whatever, just come, we''re heading downstairs."


    Runar shifted the crate''s weight onto just one of his hands as he unlocked the basement door. The wooden boards cried out under every one of Runar''s steps, as though he had suddenly tripled in weight. The boards were old, but even the towering Modak was able to walk over them with only some minor squeaking.


    "What''s in the box?" the orc curiously asked. The top was slightly open so he was trying to take a peek, but there was nothing but darkness in there.


    Runar turned back with a slight grin, clearly excited to show it off. But even so, he was trying to stay patient, "You''ll see. It''s pretty cool, don''t worry."


    "Hm... alright," Modak muttered, "Oh, and by the way, I met with Vanda earlier. You really took care of everything overnight, huh?"


    "Yeah, I guess. Thanks the gods for all the nocturnal species in this city, huh? This kind of thing takes so much longer in other parts of the country," Runar explained, pressing his palm onto the runic patterns on the floor. He turned back around as the ground opened up, revealing the stairway down below, "I was a bit surprised that we managed to get it all done on the weekend though, but I guess we got a bit lucky."


    ''Lucky? As if,'' Ryan thought to himself. There was no way that luck solved all of this. He stayed up pretty late, just scrolling through article after article describing Aglecard foundation''s work. It was a massively influential organization.


    While they were largely a philanthropic group, they had their hands in many industries to some degree. Construction, agriculture, journalism, clean energy; all the companies that were directly supported by the foundation were leading actors in their specific industries.


    The Aglecard family was not only extremely wealthy, but vastly powerful and influential. It was almost to a scary degree; the more Ryan dug around, the larger and more shrouded the scale of this all seemed to become. There was no ''luck'' involved in the fact that Vanda''s situation could be figured out literally overnight, headed into a weekend; it just showed the ridiculous and vast power of the Aglecard family.


    "So you were checking up on Vanda?" Silvia asked as the group started walking down the stairway, and Modak slowly nodded his head.


    "Yeah, I wanted to talk to her about something. Her ''Energiser'' imitated the powers of an enhancer, right? But the way those powers work is by alternating, high-frequency energy patterns, and she was struggling to figure out a way to do it at the low power output that she needed, so she had to use some weird tricks," Modak explained, turning back toward the elf walking behind him, "I showed you the mana tapes a bit ago, right? I figured maybe the mana-inscribing method that I used would work to solve Vanda''s problem."


    Ryan looked at his friend with raised brows, "Oh damn, so what does that mean? She can rebuild Energiser without having to use a spirit core?"


    "Hopefully. And really, she didn''t know. She was given the fragment by someone else, right?" Modak pointed out, and Ryan let out a slight sigh.


    "I know, I know... I just... feel really weird about the whole thing. Like, what was the plan there? Why did some rich kid give her one of Gaia''s fragments?" Ryan pointed out, inwardly glancing at the two fragments in his mind, "Runar, do you know anything about that?"


    "Sadly not," he replied, "I''ve got some guesses, but none of them are substantiated enough to really be worth adding onto your pile just yet. You''ve got plenty of other things to learn and know. And whichever the plan was supposed to be, you foiled that."


    "I... guess?" Ryan let out unsatisfied, but he figured it was a good point. However, he looked back at Modak with some curiosity, "Also, what''s this about mana tapes?"


    "I can show you in a second. You know how Silvia and I have been customizing some older retro tech together? Like cassettes, flip phones, those box TVs and monitors."


    "Ugh..." Runar groaned loudly, "That stuff is ''older retro tech'' now? That was practically sci-fi for me when I was growing up..."


    "Wow, how old are you?" Liam asked bluntly, and Runar flinched lightly.


    "Hearing that from a kid that grew up while cosplaying the Middle Ages really doesn''t feel great..."


    Modak laughed awkwardly, "Uhm... either way, I was working on some stuff that Silvia asked for, and more recently, a lot of newer tech is integrating mana more directly, so I figured why not give it a try and see if I can adapt some older stuff with mana-based tech. So instead of giving the actual tapes a magnetic charge to store data, I figured out how to do the same thing with mana," the orc explained with clear excitement in his voice, "I mean, it''s useless in a practical sense, because even if the mana-cassettes can store more data than regular cassettes, even a small USB stick completely shatters the amount of data that can be stored in comparison. It''s just a neat little thing I had fun playing around with."


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "That does sound kinda cool though. Doesn''t need to be ''useful''," Ryan pointed out. Though he didn''t really understand much about this kind of thing, he did know enough to realize that it was something pretty damn impressive.


    While they were talking and Modak explained a bit more about how it all worked, Ryan noticed that his uncle was paying pretty close attention to the whole thing. And not just that, it looked like he was thinking about something, and Ryan doubted that it was just him trying to understand what the orc was saying.


    Before long, the five made it all the way down the stairs, walking through the hallway to that large stone door. Runar pushed it open with his back, as he was still carrying that small crate in his hands. This time around there weren''t any plants growing in the way, and the overgrown path had been trimmed down for the most part. And then, once they got to the other side, Ryan was able to see these ruins properly for the first time.


    It was a large cave that had clearly been specifically cut out to accommodate this space; in parts of the walls, more ancient structures were sticking out above the treeline, some seemingly being used by the people living and working here, and others being taken over by some kind of bird''s nest. As he was looking around, it was actually taking surprisingly long for a very simple fact to dawn on him; it was incredibly bright in here, to the point where it was almost disorienting.


    But Ryan soon understood that this was due to the large crystals embedded in the ceiling. Remembering how this place looked last night, those crystals were also the cause of the ''stars'' that he had noticed here last night. However, the thing that he really did notice most of all was just how busy this place was now that it was daytime.


    Hiding between the thicket and the bushes and trees were Dryads of many different types and forms. Some looked like people, others like animals. Along the roads, there were many Geodes walking around, and though they were quite small, Sprites were hopping around the walls and on top of boxes. There were also plenty of other people here, most of which looked like any other person above ground. In regard to their appearance, there was clearly no difference between them and other people, so Ryan wondered what exactly the thing holding them back from joining up with mainstream society really was.


    "Woah!" Liam let out, looking around excitedly, for once showing some proper childlike excitement., "Now this is what I call a castle!"


    "You could call it that, I guess," Runar smiled lightly, walking along the path as the others followed behind. The people in this small, hidden underground town were throwing glances at the group as they walked, muttering to each other curiously about these people that they had never seen before.


    "Alright, Liam," Runar started once they got to the building that seemed to be his office, "Anders is waiting for you inside here. He''s going to show you around and introduce you to the couple other vampires we have here specifically."


    Liam raised his brow, surprised, "There are other vampires here?"


    "There''s four others living here. None that are your age, but it would be nice if you got to know them, alright?"


    Liam carefully walked up the stairs, looking around as if trying to see if he could spot the other vampires from here. His demeanour completely changed the moment Runar mentioned other vampires, something that definitely didn''t get past Ryan.


    "Is he alright? I thought he''d be a bit more excited and say something like ''finally some noble compatriots'' or crap like that," Ryan pointed out once Liam closed the door behind him, but Runar slowly shook his head as he continued guiding the three others down the road.


    "I don''t think there were other vampires where he grew up. About 90% of the vampires in Riveria are here in New Riverside. There are plenty of jobs that allow them to live nocturnally to avoid the sun, and with how many people there are here, it''s hard to notice if someone is being ''weird''."


    "So he''s just nervous?" Ryan asked, and Runar quickly nodded.


    "I guess so. Anyway, let''s worry about you for the time being," he replied, "It''s going to take a while until you can really figure out what you want to do as part of our family, and since we do a lot of different things, you''re going to have you test out a few things. I think this is also going to help all three of you figure out if you actually want to do this."


    Silvia picked up her pace, walking up next to Runar a bit confused, "Didn''t we already join? You gave us those coins, right?"


    "Those coins just mean you''re affiliated with me directly. It doesn''t mean you''ve joined us, but just that you''re someone that''s important to the head of the family," Runar quickly explained, "Frankly, I''m going to be dragging out any official announcements for as long as I possibly can. Luckily everyone here is in my faction, so they''ll stay quiet about it."


    "Did you just say ''faction''? As in, there''s more than one of those in our family?" Ryan asked with a concerned frown.


    "... Yeah, it... I was a bit worried that I played up the good side of our family a bit too much yesterday. The way things work, the thing I''m directly involved in... those are the ideals laid out by our founder that I fully support," Runar turned around the corner, walking down a sloped road to a lower part of this large cave, "But not everybody in our family is convinced of those ideals... There''s a reason why I could understand that your father wanted to leave, though I obviously couldn''t support the way he achieved that. Our family has a lot of ugly sides to it, and depending on what you choose to do, you will face them more than you''ll already be forced to."


    Ryan turned back toward Silvia and Modak. The fact he was worried was written boldly on his face. It was one thing to get himself caught up in something potentially dangerous, but dragging his friends into it was a whole other matter.


    "So... what will be the first thing we''re dealing with?" Ryan nervously asked, as Runar finally slowed down a bit. They were on the outskirts of that small, half-ruined ''town'' and standing in front of an old building that didn''t seem to be particularly in use. If it weren''t for the glowing coals in the forge at its side, it would certainly look like a completely abandoned structure.


    Runar finally put the crate down onto the ground, "Something that I feel like would be a good introduction to some of the ''weirdness'' we deal with on a day-to-day basis. So, I mentioned it briefly, but we don''t only deal with ''people''. We deal with animals as well. Usually, these are magic beasts who are treated horribly due to certain magical qualities they have. Other times they''re regular animals that have mutated to attain some magical quality. Frankly, almost all the beings that we deal with, whether person, animal, or otherwise, are in danger because they''re, in one way or another, ''magical'' in some form."


    Silvia''s eyes slightly widened nervously, "Wait, wouldn''t that also include Changelings?"


    Runar thought about it for a moment, but in the end just shrugged, "Kind of. Changelings came to be because they evolved in an isolated valley that was practically flooded with chaotic magic. The way their bodies adapted to that was by allowing them some level of shapeshifting. And then, when the valley broke open for some reason or another, they came out into the world and met other people. They developed their abilities specifically to let them become part of the already developing civilization. So our help really wasn''t needed there."


    "I see..." Silvia replied, thinking of Fae and the idea that she and her family and other people like her could have been in the exact same situation as all these other people walking around here if things had just developed a bit differently.


    "So..." Modak curiously looked around, trying to figure out why they were here, "What do animals have to do with a blacksmith?"


    Runar smiled lightly, pointing at the crate that he had just put down on the ground, "Ryan, go and grab a piece."


    Obviously curious, Ryan walked up to the crate, pulling the top off. And what was inside was nothing but finger-sized rods of metal. He picked one of them up, and slowly turned toward his uncle in complete disbelief. This much had to weigh literally a ton. But could those old wooden boards even hold that much weight? But this was definitely genuine metal, "You carried all this down here? Dude, seriously, what level are you?"


    Runar laughed and stepped up next to the lit forge, "Not telling. Anyway, hold your hand out with that piece of metal on your palm. Like in a petting zoo."


    Nervously, Ryan did as told, taking a step forward. He had no idea what was about to happen. Runar carefully ran his hand over the bricks making up the top of the forge, "Come on, wake up. It''s time for lunch."


    With loud creaks and the sound of shifting stone, the forge at the side of the building started to move. As if unfolding, a form started to appear. Strong hind legs and large, clawed wings, all made of stone while its yawning maw held all the red-hot coals.


    The old forge that had just taken on the form of a dragon curiously tilted its head to the side as its eyes landed on the piece of steel on Ryan''s hand.

 38 - The Living Forge

    The stone dragon stood in front of Ryan, curiously looking at the piece of metal on his palm. Though, ''looking'' was probably the wrong word; it didn''t have eyes, after all. But even so, Ryan could tell that it was focused on the small metal rod on his hand. It slowly took a step forward, its winged fore-legs moving hesitantly, as though this hulking mass of rock that would tower over even a troll or cyclops was the one that was scared.


    Ryan''s body was completely tense and frozen. He knew that this creature wasn''t dangerous, otherwise Runar wouldn''t be standing there so casually, but it was still taking Ryan quite a lot to not turn heel and run away.


    As the stone beast approached, Ryan could start to feel the heat pouring out of its mouth. Beyond the jagged rocks that acted as its fangs, the glow of hot coals emanated outward. But somehow, even though the heat was growing horribly intense as that mouth came closer to Ryan''s hand, it wasn''t painful in any way, just uncomfortable. Ryan held his breath as the dragon''s teeth carefully bit into the piece of metal, quickly pulling it away. The heat that he felt then was somewhat like when you stuck your hand into an oven; incredibly hot and if it lasted for a while it would most certainly start to hurt, but because of how fast the living forge had pulled away, he was only left with a slightly warm hand.


    "This¡­ What is this?" Ryan asked, watching as the dragon held the piece of metal up into the air, letting it slide into its mouth as if it were eating a fish. Ryan had seen this exact kind of thing before. Wyverns were rare, but he had seen one in a zoo in a large city before when him and his mom went on a trip for his birthday. This was the exact kind of thing that he saw then.


    Runar slowly ran his hand over the creature''s back, "It''s an Elemental. As magic gathers in an object or natural force, it might attain some sort of intelligence. A gust of wind, a particularly dense cloud, or a stream of water. It''s very rare, but it can happen if a lot of things coincide. And similarly, when an old object gathers a lot of mana with in, it may turn into an elemental. This one is the ''Forge''."


    "That''s so cool..." Silvia let out, staring at the elemental wyvern with a broad smile on her face, "So why does it look like that? And what''s its name?"


    Runar shrugged, responding to both questions, "We still don''t really know why elementals take on the forms they do, and she hasn''t accepted an official name yet."


    "Wait, what do you mean ''accepted an official name''?" Ryan asked, glancing at the living forge, and Runar looked back awkwardly.


    "So... do you know how dungeons will have official names? Like the... ''Abandoned Copper Foundry'' you went to. Since elemental are kind of similar to dungeons in some ways, they can also have official names. But this girl hasn''t accepted any names according to our appraiser," Runar explained, "So, that being the case, she just goes by ''Forge'' for now until we find a name that truly suits her."


    "I don''t... I don''t even know where to start with that, so I''ll just ignore the fact that you said they''re like dungeons," Ryan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "So, what is it that we''ll be doing for now?"


    "You''re going to help take care of the animals today, that''s all," Runar responded, "It''s not easy work, but I feel like it''s a good way to get used to things and meet the people you need to meet."


    "Awe man... couldn''t you have told us beforehand? I''m totally not wearing clothes for that kind of thing..." Silvia looked down at her outfit; a skirt, black boots, and an expensive-looking blouse definitely weren''t the best fit to take care of animals all day. Runar glanced over at her and quickly replied.


    "We''ve got outfits for you all to change into. They''re just simple overalls and rubber boots though."


    "... Hm... What colour are the overalls?"


    "I don''t know, black, grey, blue... we''ve got a couple different ones, I think," Runar replied, a bit confused about why Silvia cared about something as trivial as the colour of the overalls.


    "Alright... I can make that work," Silvia replied as she got lost deep in thought, "Do you mind if I take some... creative liberties with them?"


    Runar let out a long, quiet groan, "I really could not care less. Do whatever you want."


    "Yay~," a broad grin formed on Silvia''s face, and both Modak and Ryan seemed to calm down a bit. Her mood was clearly being lifted as she became more distracted from whatever had her so down before now.


    Runar continued, "Well, we''ll bring you guys to a spot you can change in a second, but first, you should meet our head animal caretaker," he said, pointing to a figure that was slowly approaching. Forget ''overalls'', what they were wearing was practically a complete hazmat suit covering them from head to toe. They walked up to Runar and quickly greeted him with a salute, keeping their distance.


    "Good day, Mister Aglecard," the woman''s high-pitched voice flowed out from behind the thick, darkened helmet.


    Ryan nervously looked at his uncle, "Do... do we need one of those as well?"


    "No, she''s just more comfortable wearing that around other people," Runar replied before turning back to the fully covered woman, "Rose, this is my nephew Ryan and his friends Silvia and Modak. They''ll be helping you out for a few hours, so take care of them well, alright?"


    With a quick, exaggerated nod, Rose replied, "Yes, sir!"


    "Okay, perfect. I actually have some other stuff to prepare. I''ll just be in my office, so come over if you need anything," Runar explained, letting out a long yawn as he turned around, muttering to himself, "So much shit to do, I just want to keep the caf¨¦ open..."


    And so, Ryan, Silvia, and Modak were left with the forge elemental and Rose. The girl''s muffled voice quickly spoke out, nervously flailing her arms around.


    "It-It''s nice to meet you! I''m Rose!" she introduced herself properly again, and Ryan took a step forward, holding out his hand to shake hers.


    "Ryan, nice to meet you," he said, but Rose quickly pulled away and built some distance between them.


    "Yes! Likewise!" she replied, clearly not comfortable shaking Ryan''s hand. Figuring that there was no need to force it, Ryan pulled his hand away, turning to the living forge next to him. She was looking at Ryan curiously, her mouth slightly opened and letting out a soft glow from behind her teeth.


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    "So... Are there more elementals? Or what are we doing today?" Ryan asked, as Rose carefully walked up to the crate on the ground that had all the pieces of metal in it.


    "We do have a few elementals, but not only. Mister Aglecard only asked me to have you accompany me on my lunch route, so I can show you all my babies today!" she explained, throwing a few of the metal bars from the crate into the air. The forge quickly reacted, catching them in her mouth with some smooth motions. Rose placed her hand onto the side of her snout, rubbing it carefully, "You know, this girl started out as just a little flame!"


    "Huh?" Modak let out, clearly confused by what he heard. He was clearly already baffled by the revelation that elementals are similar to dungeons, but this was a whole other thing, "What do you mean? I''ve heard about elementals, but... they change?"


    "Modak, right? Mister Aglecard told me you''re interested in these sorts of magical things already," Rose carefully started picking up a few more metal rods to keep feeding the forge, "So, you know how dungeons have multiple stages? Stage 0 being that the seed of a dungeon settles into a space, a cumulation of tons of mana that interacted in seemingly random ways. Stage 1 is when that seed sprouts and pours mana into the space that it inhabited. And then, at Stage 2 is when you have a proper dungeon."


    Ryan glanced at the forge, "So they have similar stages as well? Elementals grow over time?"


    "Exactly!" Rose said immediately, pointing at Ryan as if he got the right answer in some quiz, "We can compare the initial birth of an elemental to a dungeon''s second stage, and they keep growing and affecting things around them to a degree, growing slowly but surely into something... more."


    "Isn''t that kind of dangerous, then?"


    Rose laughed slightly, something that clearly spread through her whole body. For someone that hid herself with a hazmat suit, she was extremely expressive, "Have you ever met a completely harmless animal, or even person at that? Of course, if disturbed, they might be dangerous, depending on how old and powerful they are. But elementals are also so rare that most of the time, when one pops up, they are the ones that need protection. Plus, elementals never affect the world around them, they simply add to their bodies! Our cute little forge here used to be flames of a forge, not the forge itself. But over time, as she grew older and more mana accumulated, she got the body she has now. We''re keeping her here and are trying to fix up the smithy in case she feels the need to grow more in the future."


    "... Well, alright. So... what first?" Ryan asked, glancing over at his friends who seemed quite excited to see all the different animals that were being protected down here.


    "First, you get changed!" Rose quickly turned around, starting to lead the three down the road. As they were walking, keeping their distance from Rose as that was clearly what she wanted, Modak carefully leaned over to Ryan.


    "I did not expect that we would do this of all things today..." Modak pointed out, and Ryan looked at him nervously.


    "You don''t have to if you don''t want to. Runar said this is just a way for us to figure out what we''d like to do and to learn about different sides of the family, but if you can already tell that you''d rather not, then..."


    "Oh, no, that''s not it. It''s not that I don''t want to, it''s just... I''m not very good with animals," almost embarrassed to admit it, Modak scratched his cheek, "I think it''s a mana thing. Animals are more sensitive to it in general, and since I don''t have any..."


    "Wait, what?" Silvia asked, looking at the orc confused, "What do you mean you don''t have any?"


    "I... have Mana Rejection Disorder. My body can''t hold any mana."


    "It kind of saved my ass with Energiser, though," Ryan added, "So it''s not all bad, right?"


    Modak sighed lightly, "You don''t need to be like that. It''s annoying, but I''ve dealt with it my whole life. I''m fine."


    Silvia slightly patted Modak''s back. Both her and Ryan understood how much he loved magic at this point, so not having mana must be a massive blow. Even without awakening, it was possible to use magic if you were dedicated enough to learning how to. And having something like Mana Rejection Disorder holding you back from even trying must be crushing.


    But with magic engineering, Modak seemed to have found a good middle-ground between what he can and can''t do, still letting him deal with magic somehow.


    "At least you don''t have to worry about Liam trying to bite your neck," Ryan scoffed lightly, "He stood in my room and yelled at me to offer him up my blood this morning. That was how I met him."


    Modak laughed lightly, "Hey, I mean, that does sound like what a kid would do. Zigg and Mogh had this ''Hero'' phase, and they''d come into my room to slay the ''Slumbering Titan''."


    "Yeah... I just hope that he doesn''t act like a total ass at whatever school he''ll go to," Ryan sighed. Modak and Silvia shared a look for a moment, and then turned back to their friend.


    "You''re already that worried about him?" Silvia asked, though it was more like she was pointing it out. Ryan shrugged.


    "I guess. I was a bit of a weird kid too, so I get what it''s like," Ryan replied, as the group walked into a nearby building.


    "I''m sure all three of us were pretty weird kids, right?" Silvia pointed out. Modak thought about it for a moment, and just ended up shrugging.


    "I guess I was kind of weird," he replied, "I hid in my elementary school''s library after closing hours once so I could just read all weekend."


    "How long did it take them to find you?" Ryan wondered, and Modak thought about it for a few moments.


    "Hm... I think my dad dragged me out at some point that night. But it''s been a while, I was in first grade."


    "Aww, little baby Modak," with a slight giggle, Silvia looked around the room, as the orc awkwardly hid his embarrassed blush. But before they could continue talking, Rose was waving them over.


    She stepped to the side as the three got closer, letting them see into what seemed to be a supply closet, "We keep some spare work-clothes here. Just pick whatever fits you, and then come back outside! I''ll be waiting! We''ve got some changing rooms right over there."


    Silvia stepped into the supply closet first, curiously looking at the different options. And before either Modak or Ryan could even pick something out, she pushed some options into their hands, "These would look good on you!"


    The orc looked at the dark blue overalls and sighed, "It looks exactly the same as the one I wear when I help my dad at the garage."


    "Yeah, and the colour suits you!" Silvia immediately pointed out, as Ryan unfolded his red overalls. He couldn''t complain, it would probably fit him pretty well. It wasn''t a bad colour either.


    And Silvia herself quickly picked out a pitch black one for herself, but she also immediately grabbed something from her backpack. A small sewing kit. She took out a small pair of scissors and cut into the fabric without hesitation.


    "Wait, you''re actually going to alter it? Now?" Ryan asked with a bit of disbelief in his voice, and Silvia grinned up at him.


    "Nothing big, but yeah! Why not~? Don''t worry, it won''t take long, it''s just a small change!"


    "Sure, if you say so," with a laugh, Ryan and Modak made their way into the changing rooms. They were all single-person spaces, so each of them took their own small cabins.


    Ryan took off his jacket and trousers, placing them onto the small shelf. It was deep summer, and it was so incredibly hot upstairs. Down here, underground, it was quite pleasant, but upstairs he was almost dying every day. He glanced down at his legs, seeing the scars that covered them. They were more sparse than the ones on his back, but still enough for Ryan to feel self-conscious about then. But maybe he should try to just not give a shit about it any more. Why would he care what strangers thought about him, if his best friends supported him to the point they joined a secret society with him?


    Ryan let out a slight sigh as he put on the overalls. He didn''t pull it over his upper body, instead just tying the sleeves around his waist like a belt. The shirt Ryan was wearing was kind of old anyway, so he didn''t care if it got dirty. And so, Ryan stepped back out of the changing room, ready to get to work.

 39 - Cockatrices

    Carrying a large plastic box, Ryan trotted down the well-used dirt road toward the large coop that Rose had pointed out to him. Modak was following while carrying a hay bale, and Silvia was already waiting with two large water buckets by the coop''s entrance.


    "Alright, now, you guys wear these," Rose said, quickly walking up to each of them with sunglasses in her hands.


    Ryan put down the plastic box confused, "Eh... Why do we need these? What are we doing here?"


    "Why does it matter? They''re cute," Silvia pointed out smugly, placing the sunglasses onto her face and peering over them with a grin. Ryan glanced at her with a slight laugh. Ryan didn''t expect her to be able to do much in the short time she had to alter the outfit, but it was surprisingly effective. She cut off the sleeves and added a belt, which she carried with her for some reason, onto her waist. She then cut a strip out of one of the sleeves and used it to tie up her hair into a bun. It wasn''t a lot, but she definitely looked a lot more fashionable than Ryan and Modak did.


    "How they look really doesn''t matter, please just keep wearing them properly and never look out from beyond the glasses directly. Periphery is... fine, but should also be avoided if possible," Rose explained, carefully stepping up to the fenced gate. There were thick blackout sheets surrounding the whole thing, as if they were trying to hide what was in here.


    "Oh, and they''re a bit rowdy, but they''re not dangerous or anything. As long as you keep the sunglasses on. Seriously, do not... please do not take them off," Rose reiterated, as she slowly opened the gate, stepping through and waiting for Ryan, Silvia and Modak to do the same. In front of them was another gate to make sure that the ones in here couldn''t get out as easily, and once more, there were blackout curtains to ensure that nobody caught a glance of them as the gates were opened and closed.


    Ryan swallowed nervously as Rose closed the first gate, and then opened the second. They all stepped through, and Ryan''s eyes widened. The fenced-in coop was completely filled with what at first looked to be just overly large chickens. They had white or brown or black feathers on their backs, but their belly and throat were covered in scales instead. Similar to those of a wyvern, something still freshly in Ryan''s mind after seeing the forge elemental earlier, they had clawed wings and large, sharp talons. They had long tails that were carefully slithering around on the ground behind them, ending in a few small feathers.


    "Wait, these are just... cockatrices?" Ryan let out confused.


    Rose quickly shook her head, holding her arms in front of her body to form an ''X'', "They are not just cockatrices! These are the cockatrices!"


    "... What?" Ryan asked, turning around toward his friends who seemed just as confused as him.


    "The ones that you see out in zoos or at farms are a specific breed of domesticated cockatrices; they''re basically blind because they''ve been bred to weaken their eyesight. These here are wild cockatrices. Their habitat was being encroached on so we rescued, and we''re trying to find a good place to relocate them to right now," Rose explained, and Modak shivered. His realization was boldly written on his face even with those thick sunglasses.


    "Wait, so... that''s real? Can cockatrices petrify people?"


    Rose hesitated for a few moments, but finally nodded her head, "Yes, they can. Though it''s not ''petrification'', it''s a very powerful paralysis, and it''s strong enough to usually lead to cardiac arrest in most animals and people," she explained, squatting down. One of the cockatrices came up to her, rubbing its head against her leg, "But it needs eye-contact to activate. Sunglasses seem to block it somehow. And it''s not something they can really control either. They''re very calm and affectionate otherwise."


    Silvia was the first to squat down to get closer to the cockatrices, holding out her hand carefully to let herself be approached. They carefully approached her, though keeping their distance in general. Rose stood back up, her focus lingering on Silvia for a little while longer, before she spoke up.


    "Okay, we''ve got a ton of other places to go, so let''s get started! We''ve got to replace some of the hay on the ground, feed them, and give them some fresh water," Rose explained, walking up to side of the coop''s hut where the cockatrices'' nests seemed to be. At its side was a small door that she opened up, pulling out two pitchforks, holding one herself and giving another to Modak after he placed down the hay bale.


    "Ryan, you fill everything from the box into the trough, and Silvia, you fill up the water bowl. Modak and I will start shovelling the hay while the cockatrices are eating."


    And so, they quickly did as told. Ryan brought the box over to the side of the fodder trough and opened up the lid. Some of the cockatrices were already closing in, knowing what was about to happen. Inside the box was a mixture of mealworms and chunks of meat, all mixed together with some sort of pellets. Ryan placed the box onto the side of the trough and carefully filled it up. The moment he was done and pulled the box away, the cockatrices came rushing over and immediately started to eat.


    Ryan took a step back, inwardly looking at Maximus. He had decided to stay inside the domain and train himself. Since last night, he seemed to be deep in thought, and training looked like the best way for Maximus to clear his thoughts. Ryan was a bit worried, and he did ask Maximus if he wanted to join earlier, but he wanted to focus on his training for the time being.


    "H-Hey, stay back!" Modak''s anxious voice sounded out from across the coop. It seemed like not all the cockatrices had decided to eat right away, and one of them was standing right in front of Modak. The cockatrice was building itself up in front of him, pushing forward its chest while hissing.


    Rose carefully walked up toward him, "Calm down, sometimes they can be a little tense, but as long as you don''t back down, they won''t do anything. Just stand strong, and show her you''re not scared of her."


    "But I am scared of her!"


    "Then try to act like you''re not! It''s all about confidence," Rose reassured him, "They''re really not dangerous, so you-"


    Just as she was saying so, the cockatrice lunged at Modak. Startled, he took a step back, the pitchfork in his hand digging into the ground behind him. He tripped over it, twisting his body to catch himself. But as he did, the sunglasses fell off his face. Rose immediately rushed over to him, trying to pull the cockatrice away, but once more she was too late.


    Ryan''s heart skipped a beat as he ran forward to Modak, as the cockatrice stared into his eyes. However, instead of being paralysed, Modak jumped up from the ground, pressing himself against the fence behind him while keeping his eyes shut, "Shit, shit, shit- I- What am I supposed to do, I-"


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Ryan slowed down as he noticed Rose standing there in clear disbelief, dropping her arms confused, "You didn''t... You weren''t paralysed?"


    And even more than that, the cockatrice that had only just jumped at him in an attempted attack, was now tightly rubbing its body against his leg, almost affectionately.


    "Wh-What''s happening?" Modak asked as he pressed his hand onto his chest, scared of the cardiac arrest that Rose mentioned earlier.


    "Did you... you locked eyes with her, right?" Rose asked, stepping up closer to Modak, who slowly nodded his head.


    "Y-Yeah... I definitely did... When is this supposed to happen?"


    "Instantly... it''s usually instant. It''s their way to hunt, if animals could keep moving after locking eyes with them, that would be really dangerous... you should be affected, what''s going on? I don''t even know why it attacked, you, I''m... I''m so sorry!" Rose pointed out, carefully trying to pull the cockatrice away from Modak''s leg. However, it seemed like she didn''t want to leave him alone any more, and was rather hissing at Rose for trying to pull her away.


    "I think... Modak is it because of your MRD?" Ryan asked, and Modak turned toward him, his eyes still closed.


    "What do you mean?"


    "It''s like a... magic thing, right? Like, the paralysing ''curse'' or whatever it is. That kind of thing uses mana as a conduit, and you don''t have any. So it wouldn''t work," Ryan suggested, and Rose looked back and forth between Ryan and Modak.


    "Is that what you were talking about earlier? You have no mana at all? None?"


    "... Yeah... not an ounce. Usually people with MRD have a tiny, tiny bit, but I was a special case because I have none," Modak explained, and Rose took a step closer toward him. She seemed to, for just a moment, lift her helmet up ever so slightly, and closed it down just a moment later, just to let out a long sigh of relief.


    "Oh, thanks the gods... yeah, you have none at all, you''re fine! You''re totally fine! You can open your eyes!" Rose replied, and Modak carefully opened just one of his eyes.


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, definitely! Trust me, I know more about these babies than anyone else in the world!"


    Nervously, Modak opened both of his eyes, glancing down at the cockatrice below him. They once more locked eyes, but Modak felt nothing at all. As if happy, the cockatrice started loudly purring.


    "That also explains why she likes you so much all of a sudden!" Rose added, "She thinks you''re a giant cockatrice rooster!"


    Modak immediately stared at Rose, "Excuse me?"


    "Yeah! The only ones that don''t get petrified by cockatrices are other cockatrices, and since these hens love a large rooster, that must be what''s going on here!"


    Ryan scoffed involuntarily, "So... the cockatrice wants to give his cock-a-try?"


    As Silvia laughed in the background, Modak intensely stared at his friend, "I... I hate you with a passion."


    "No, you don''t," Ryan grinned broadly, "But hey, at least you''re popular with some animals now."


    "... Whatever," Modak grumbled lightly, carefully squatting down. He was still hesitant; his whole life, animals had either avoided him or had been aggressive toward him. Cats would hiss and scratch at him, dogs would bark when he walked past. The reason his family wasn''t able to have any pets was because they were all scared of Modak, and he was scared of them in turn.


    He carefully held his hand out to the affectionate cockatrice, who pressed her head against his palm, "Well... I guess it''s not all bad."


    Rose pulled at Modak''s arm to get him to stand up again, excitement flowing through her whole body, "If you don''t have any mana at all, there is another beast that I would like you to meet! I wasn''t going to introduce you all to him just yet, but we''ve been having quite a lot of trouble with him... Do you mind?"


    Not sure what to say, Modak looked over at Ryan and Silvia, "What do you guys think? Should we?"


    "I don''t see why not, we''re here to learn about this place anyway, right?" Ryan pointed out, and Modak carefully nodded his head.


    "Alright... as long as it''s safe."


    "Yes! It should be totally safe for you!" Rose exclaimed, still holding onto Modak''s arm. He slowly pulled away to pick up the pitchfork that he dropped.


    "Sure... And I think maybe you should invest in sunglasses that can''t fall off... Like those swimming goggles or something..."


    Rose immediately nodded her head, "Yes, yes, of course! I will look into it and order some!"


    And with that, they continued to clean up the coop to replace the old hay. Ryan ended up taking over for Modak as he was being surrounded by all the other cockatrice hens once they realized that they weren''t able to paralyse him.


    Especially since Rose seemed even more motivated than before, the four of them were able to finish this task pretty quickly. After that, they continued on to finish all the other tasks, which really mostly consisted feeding all the different animals and cleaning them up a bit.


    Common animals that had been cursed or simply had some sort of disease with magical origins, a couple elementals beside the forge elemental, and they even met a few of the other people living down here on the way. Everyone seemed happy to meet them. They were kind, laughing, smiling... but Ryan still felt that something was off.


    Everyone that lived down here had the same air surrounding them. An air that Ryan knew well. He felt similar in his hometown, though obviously for different reasons than all of these people. They felt stuck in this small place. They wanted to leave and live their lives, not be stuck in a place, hiding themselves from the world.


    But they were trying their best to figure out how to make this work for them. Some of them seemed like they were only down here temporarily, and would either leave to some places where it was easier for them to live, or try to hide themselves in New Riverside. But there were also plenty of people that had no other choice but to stay here. The geodes or dryads? They would never be able to hide, and just starting to walk around amongst other people without the ability to properly communicate with others wasn''t going to just work either.


    It wasn''t just people that had to hide because their species was staying hidden either, though. Some of them, similar to the animals, were here because they were suffering from certain types of curses or magical diseases. Regular hospitals were only equipped to handle the most basic curses at the level of regular illnesses, and not the kind of thing they were dealing with here.


    Forced, painful mutations of limbs, out of control magic, and even things like lycanthropy. This whole organization was doing their best to help all of these people, and Ryan wanted to do whatever he could to help that. Maybe taking care of animals wasn''t the way for him to do that, and he most certainly didn''t have the organizational and political skills needed to help whole species of people integrate. But helping out individuals was something he could do. Something he had to do.


    And so, before long, Ryan, Silvia, and most importantly Modak, followed Rose to the place where that ''troubled child'' stayed. They made their way to the edge of the cave, walking up some stairs that climbed up to one of the buildings carved into the walls. Before they reached the top, Rose turned around and looked at the three behind her.


    "Okay, you''ve got to stay calm now. He''s not dangerous, he has never attacked anyone... we just can''t get close to him. But still, we should try not to scare him."


    Modak nervously clenched his fist. He had no idea what he was about to see, but if he was the only one that could really help, then he had to do this. Rose pushed open the wooden door on the balcony at the end of the steps. And as they walked inside, what the group saw was not a wounded animal that wouldn''t let others get close, which is what this all sounded like all along.


    No, the only thing in this room was a single wardrobe.

 40 - Pep Talk

    In this dark, cold and quiet room, there was nothing but a single old wardrobe. Its wood was worn out and half-rotten, but you could tell that it was once an expensive and high-quality piece.


    Ryan slowly turned to Rose, "What''s going on? What is this?"


    "That''s ''Kindly''. He has a curse that infects others by latching onto their mana," she explained calmly, staring right at the wardrobe.


    "Got it... and that''s why he''s hiding in there?" Ryan asked, but Rose just laughed and shook her head.


    "No, he''s not hiding at all," she explained, and started clapping her hands together a few times, "Come on, Kindly. Wake up!"


    With loud creaks and the sound of wood cracking and bending, the wardrobe started to shake ever so slightly. Not sure what was about to happen, Ryan looked to his friends, both of which were just fully focused on what was happening in front of them. As Ryan turned back, the wardrobe had already changed into something... else.


    The wood of the wardrobe cracked and dozens of red and yellow eyes were peering out from the darkness. Its door was pushed ajar, and wart-covered, fleshy black tentacles were slithering out from beyond it, latching onto the wood and ground. Ryan''s heart almost skipped a beat as he stared at the thing inside the wardrobe. No, as he stared at the thing that was the wardrobe.


    "He''s a mimic," Rose explained, "They''re like hermit crabs turning objects like this into their homes. But instead of just living inside of them, those objects turn into a part of their bodies. But Kindly''s current body is breaking down because he''s slowly outgrowing it, but we can''t coax him out of it, no matter what we do."


    Modak stared at the mimic, another creature that he had only read about in fairy tales. But different to the others that he had seen here so far, mimics were always monsters. Things that hid in small nooks and inconspicuous places, ambushing them to get something to eat between their teeth.


    "How can I... how can I help? Am I supposed to pull him out of there?" the orc couldn''t move his eyes away from the thin, clearly sick tendrils of the creature in front of him. But Rose quickly explained what he had to do.


    "No, that''s not it at all! Definitely don''t! He''s just... he''s hurt. We''re already trying to figure out how to deal with his curse, but that''s going to take a while to resolve. But he has these really nasty cuts and gashes and wounds, and he won''t let anyone get close to him."


    Modak slowly understood, "So... I should treat him? I don''t know anything about veterinary medicine..."


    Rose shook her head, "You don''t have to, I can walk you through it. It''s nothing too complicated, but we don''t have anyone that can do it..."


    "I... Can I think about this for a second?"


    "Of course! Take your time!" Rose immediately replied, some panic in her voice. Modak turned around and stepped out of the room back onto the balcony, rushing down the stairs.


    Silvia and Ryan looked at each other, and the elf hesitantly opened her mouth. But before she could, Ryan spoke up, "I''ll go after him, you can stay here."


    She slowly nodded her head, as Ryan left the room. Silvia was also dealing with some things right now. Though Ryan still didn''t know what it was, he was sure Silvia wasn''t in a state of mind to give a pep talk to someone else right now.


    Modak was already at the bottom of the carved stone steps, pacing around in circles on the trampled patch of grass. From here, Ryan could see some dryads curiously peeking out from dense artificial forest spreading around the edges of the whole cave, trying to see what was going on.


    "Hey man, you alright?" Ryan slowed down as he got to the bottom of the stairs, and Modak immediately and violently shook his head.


    "No, I''m not alright! What the hell is going on?" he let out, heavy breaths pouring out of his mouth, "This morning, I''ve never so much as petted an animal without being hissed or barked at, and now I''m the king of cockatrices and the only one that can treat a fucking mimic? How the hell does that makes sense?"


    "Yeah, and yesterday I was still the son of an accountant and a bookkeeper, and now I''m the direct descendant of millennium-old secret society. Things change very quickly these days," Ryan scoffed, sitting down on the steps with a laugh. Modak turned to him and sighed loudly.


    "It''s just... so much. It''s not that I don''t want to help, but I... I don''t even really like animals all that much. I don''t hate them, obviously, but until now they were just kind of a topic I stayed away from. I don''t know if I can do this," Modak let out a laugh of disbelief, continuing to pace around, "I don''t know the slightest thing about how to handle animals whatsoever. I don''t even know how to handle people. If you and Silvia weren''t the way you are, my university experience would be very, very different."


    Ryan narrowed his eyes, staring at his friend. He wasn''t sure if he was understanding him correctly, "What are you even saying? You were friends with everyone in the robotics club. You walk up to your professors and talk to them about topics I''ve never even heard of."


    "... That... that''s not the same thing."


    "How is it not? Why do you keep underestimating yourself, you''re a literal fucking genius. Who cares if you don''t know much about animals? You can do this. Especially with the help of someone that awakened as a ''Zoologist''."


    Modak slowed down, just standing there for a few moments, his back turned to Ryan, "Can you just... tell me what I should do?"


    "Are you shitting me?" Ryan asked, almost angry about being asked this. He stood up from the steps and walked around the orc to look straight into his face, "I''m not going to tell you what to do, that''s not how this all works. You''re not my aide. You''re my best friend. But genuinely... I fully believe that you can do this. I just can''t tell you if you should."


    Modak and Ryan locked eyes for a moment. And then, with a loud groan, Modak threw his head into his neck, "Okay, fine. I''m doing it."


    "You sure?" Ryan asked, a slight smile on his face, "Nobody''s forcing you to."


    "Oh, shut up, you want me to do it, right?" Modak sighed.


    "I don''t not want you to do it," Ryan held forward his fist toward the orc, "Come on, man. You got this."


    A smile formed on Modak''s face as he bumped his friend''s fist, "Yeah... I got this."


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Runar sat in his office, peering through a magnifying glass onto the thin metal plate in front of him. He was using an extremely fine brush to carefully paint patterns onto it as his eyes let off a soft green glow.


    "Still doing that kind of busywork?" a woman asked as she walked up to the desk. Without even looking at her, Runar calmly replied to her.


    "I''m definitely not letting anyone else set up a permanent magic array here, so I''m the only one that can make these," he pointed out, slowly pulling the brush away from the metal plate to glance up at the elf now standing in front of him, "Also, I''d appreciate it if you could knock before coming into my office."


    "Oh, don''t be like that! You''re the one that invited me here," she responded with a slight laugh, sitting down on a chair across from Runar. Rolling his eyes, the rune mage continued his work.


    "Yes, but I don''t remember sending anyone up to let you in, so that means you broke in."


    "That''s a strong word, don''t you think?"


    "No, actually. I don''t think so," Runar stayed calm despite the watchful gaze of the woman in front of him. She shook her head and sighed a few times as Runar was working, until he had enough of it.


    "Alicia, what are you doing?" he asked, trying to hold back a groan. Alicia just shrugged and leaned back in her seat.


    "I didn''t do anything."


    With a slight laugh, Runar raised his brow, "Alicia. Tell me. What is it?"


    "... A four-pointed array for the third circle would be much more effective than a five-pointed array. You''re just wasting mana like that."


    "That would be the case if I were working with a standard mathematical model, but I''m using a combined runic model. Because of the ''Syt'' rune right here, I need the additional stability that a five-pointed array provides."


    "Well, that would be the case if you weren''t already using ''Bak'' right at the connection between the second and third circles."


    "Bak? What do you- this is ''Het''!"


    "... Didn''t I tell you to fix your handwriting?"


    "My handwriting is fine. How about you start wearing your fuckin'' glasses for once?" with a click of his tongue, Runar leaned back forward and continued drawing these complex patterns onto the metal plate. Alicia crossed her legs and shook her head as she replied.


    "Glasses don''t suit the shape of my face," she pointed out, placing her palm onto her cheek with a slight grin.


    "... Mhm."


    For a few minutes longer, until Runar was finally done, Alicia just silently observed. And then he finally pulled back and placed the plate next to the other two that he had already finished. He stood up and stretched, finally properly looking at the woman in front of him with a smile on his face.


    "Thanks for coming on such short notice," he said, walking around the table to give the elf a hug. She returned it happily and shook her head.


    "Anything for my favourite student."


    "Oh please, I was horrible."


    "You were also half the age of the second-youngest person at the tower, so you''re getting some bonus points," Alicia laughed, "So, you have three new arrivals, I see?"


    Runar looked at the metal plates. The paint that he just applied to them still had to dry for a little while longer, "It''s a bit complicated, but yes. It''s... Ryan, and his two closest friends."


    "Ryan? That was... that was your nephew, correct?" Runar slowly nodded, and Alicia placed her hand onto her chin in remembrance, "I thought you said you were trying not to get him involved."


    "That''s what I promised Hayden, so yeah. But then he became the Spirit Keeper, so that changed very quickly."


    Alicia''s eyes widened in surprise, "The Spirit Keeper? That is quite the coincidence... and his friends are trustworthy as well?"


    Runar hesitated for a few moments, "I think so. I actually did some background checks on them a while ago, and they came out perfectly clean. No connections to any other factions in the family, nor to the Shadows or anything of the sort. And Ryan has a pretty good eye for people these, and an even greater moral compass. If he trusts them... so do I. Worst case, I make them forget about this whole thing, but let''s hope I won''t need to."


    "You still meddle with memories so easily?"


    "... I don''t easily. I just don''t hesitate to do it when I need to. Not any more," Runar pointed out, quickly trying to move on from the conversation, "Anyway, you brought everything you need for your clairvoyance, right?"


    "Of course," Alicia petted the ceramic bottle hanging by her hip, "Though, you still didn''t tell me what you want me to find."


    "Oh calm down, you already know, right?"


    "I have a guess. I would just like to hear it from you directly."


    "Ryan has found two thirds of a spirit core," Runar explained, glancing down at the watch on his wrist as he walked up to a nearby shelf, grabbing a box from on top of it, "So, we need your help finding the last third."


    Alicia smiled lightly, narrowing her eyes, "Has he now? He just ''found'' them?"


    "Can you stop acting like you don''t know about all of this already? You already knew that Ryan awakened as the Spirit Keeper, and you also already know that the Shadows are involved."


    Alicia looked up contemplatively, slowly shrugging, "I am very good at guessing."


    Runar rolled his eyes as he opened up the top of the box, pulling a small larva out of it. It was around half the size of a pinkie, and was still slightly moving. He stepped up to the spherical nest, carefully placing the larva into its entrance. Hesitantly, small hands covered in dull feathers grabbed it, pulling it deeper inside.


    "A pixie?" Alicia asked curiously. This time, it was real curiosity. The difference was pretty obvious to Runar; she hadn''t known about the pixie girl.


    "We rescued her from an auction yesterday. She''s still too scared to let us properly check on her, but I think she''s warming up to me."


    Alicia smiled lightly, squatting down in front of the nest. The pixie, currently trying to eat the larva, was startled as she looked at Alicia. She pulled the larva closer to her body, as if trying to hide it. The elf carefully held forward her finger as Alicia''s eyes took on a soft, mellow pink. Runar couldn''t see her mana directly, but he could feel some of the most refined mana he had ever seen flow from the elf''s fingertip.


    Just a moment later, the pixie''s demeanour changed almost completely. While she was scared and hiding before, she now wore an excited expression, jumping onto her feet. Her injured wings fluttered quietly as her innate mana started pulsating and flowing around her, responding to Alicia.


    The elf chuckled slightly, looking up at Runar, "You should really freshen up on your Pixie-speak. She called you dull."


    "It''s my pixie-speak, I just don''t have your ridiculous level of mana control. But I''ve been working on an array to make it a bit easier for me, I''ve just been a bit busy since last night," Runar pointed out, "Plus, I wanted to let her take it easy for now. She went through a lot."


    "Right, right, you dull little boy," Alicia laughed, watching the quite reinvigorated pixie continue with her meal, "Alright, let''s go meet this Ryan now. He''s the one with the dungeon mana stuck in him, right?


    "Hm?" Runar saw Alicia''s gaze move into a specific direction of the cave, as if she was looking at something beyond the walls of this building. And he immediately realized where she was looking, "Wait, why are they... But yeah, that''s him. Sorry, can you see what they''re doing?"


    "The three of them seem to be taking care of a cursed animal. That''s par for the course here, isn''t it?"


    Runar raised his brow confused, "The three of them? Sorry, does one of them have red, kind of spiky mana?"


    "Mhm, and quite a lot of it too. There''s one with a little bit, but not enough to be of substance, really."


    With a confused frown, Runar picked up his pen from the table, writing a series of runes into the air. His eyes took on a green glow as he started seeing the mana of the people in question. There was something weird there. He wrote a rune in front of his right eye, closing his left as he activated it. His sight was quickly magnified. Just like Alicia, he could see three people. Ryan with that thick dungeon mana stuck inside of him, Rose''s ridiculous amount of innate mana, and someone with clean, but unrefined mana. And then there was of course Kindly, whose cursed mana was like a splotch of ink accidentally thrown onto a canvas, sticking out. But right in front of Kindly, there was an outline.


    A spot where there was no mana at all. A complete absence.


    "Is that... Modak?"

 41 - Kindly the Mimic

    Runar rushed up the steps at the cave''s walls, practically ripping open the door once he got to the top. And what he was seeing was exactly what he thought. To his left, startled by his uncle''s sudden appearance was Ryan, who stuck out like a sore thumb because of the dungeon mana in him. The corruption was still wriggling on his chest, trying to dig its way through.


    Next to him was Silvia, whose mana was fine, but not anything special. And then, Runar turned toward Kindly the cursed mimic, and the sight of his mana practically assaulted Runar''s sight, fully distracting him from Rose''s dense mana. But the only thing that he could focus on was that ''hole''. More than just a complete lack of mana, it was like the space taken up by Modak fully rejecting the very existence of mana.


    It even took Runar a while to realize what was actually happening here; Modak was treating Kindly.


    "What''s going on, what are you doing?" Runar asked, still not sure what he was looking at. Rose immediately shook her head and waved her hands around.


    "It''s not what it looks like! He doesn''t have any mana, so he''s unaffected by Kindly''s curse!" The animal caretaker tried to make sure that Runar knew Modak was safe in what he was doing, "He wasn''t even affected by the cockatrice''s paralysis!"


    Runar stared at Rose, taken aback, "He locked eyes with a cockatrice? How the hell did that happen?!"


    Rose was startled at Runar''s raised voice, "I-I''m sorry, it was an accident! He fell and-"


    "Rose, I entrusted them to you, you should be the one to prevent those exact accidents!"


    "Dude," Ryan stepped up to his uncle, stepping between him and Rose, "I get what you''re saying, but it really wasn''t her fault. Animals get weird around Modak because he doesn''t have mana, and a cockatrice tried to jump at him. He fell down, his sunglasses fell off, and that was that."


    Runar looked at Ryan for a few moments, sighing loudly, "Fine... as long as he''s alright, that''s all that matters. But still, why is he treating Kindly? Even if the curse won''t affect him, treating a mimic can be very dangerous."


    Rose quickly shook her head, "No, with other mimics, maybe, but Kindly isn''t the same as other mimics, he''s much, much smarter. He''s less aggressive, and he understands things at a wholly different level!"


    Runar rubbed the bridge of his nose, "That doesn''t mean that he can''t be dangerous, Rose. Especially an injured mimic can be dangerous. Even more so if it''s an awakened mimic."


    Ryan''s head snapped toward the wardrobe, deeply staring at it, "Excuse me?"


    "Hm? What?" Runar asked with a deep frown, massaging his forehead to get it to relax.


    "No, just... I thought you just said that the mimic... that Kindly awakened."


    "Yeah, that''s what I said."


    "But isn''t Kindly a mimic?"


    "I don''t understand the problem," Runar looked at his nephew with a confused expression, and Rose quickly explained.


    "Ah, about that... I believe that it''s not particularly well-known that animals can awaken," she explained, but Runar let out a scoff.


    "Seriously? I guess it''s a lot rarer than for people, but I figured Ryan would know," he pointed out, quickly turning to his nephew, "Aren''t you kind of an Awakening nerd?"


    Ryan stared into space for a few moments, trying to really process that information. He had read through every single known class on the AWKND forum, but there was no info about any classes that belonged to animals. But then again, it wasn''t like there was anything that said animals couldn''t awaken.


    "Whatever, that''s not really important right now. Modak, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Any scratches, bumps, or other injuries?" Runar asked, looking the orc up and down, but Modak quickly shook his head.


    "No, I''m fine..." he replied, slowly looking back at Kindly, "And I''m just treating some wounds on him, that''s fine, right?"


    Runar hesitated to answer. Obviously there wasn''t anything wrong with him taking care of the mimic, but this was just too risky. If Modak did something wrong and hurt Kindly even a little, he could lash out and do a lot of damage to an un-awakened person. That being the case, though, Runar knows how important it is to get Kindly fixed up quickly. It wasn''t even possible to use healing magic on him because the curse would break down any spell it came in contact with.


    "Fine," Runar let out a long, deep sigh, "But let me do something first."


    Runar waved Modak over, and the orc carefully walked up to him. He was trying to keep his hands behind his back, since he was wearing rubber gloves and didn''t want to get them dirty. With some swift motions, Runar used his pen to write something right in front of Modak''s chest. He activated the runes, and for just a brief moment, Modak was surrounded in a thin light.


    With a click of his tongue, Runar put the pen away, "I''ve put a mark for a physical protection spell on you, so that should do it in case something goes wrong."


    "I thought Kindly''s curse infects all mana, wouldn''t that happen with that too?" Silvia wondered, but Runar shook his head.


    "That''s why it''s just a mark. If something happens, I''ll activate the spell from here. Kindly''s curse can''t infect anything right off the bat, so it should work. I can''t keep it active for much longer than a moment anyway because the spell probably won''t take proper hold on Modak and will break down pretty quickly," Runar explained quickly, taking a step back to where he could properly watch Kindly and Modak. The orc slowly returned to the mimic, continuing to properly clean and treat his wounds.


    Using salves that were specifically created with the minimum amount of mana possible, as well as some medicine that was fed to Kindly directly, Modak was able to finish the treatment properly as Rose carefully guided him through the whole process.


    Ryan stood on the other side of the room. His heart was beating strong, as he watched Kindly twitch at the slightest touch. Squeezing his eyes shut, trying to persist through the discomfort. Those thin, wart-covered tentacles curled up, wrapping themselves around the legs of the wardrobe. Through it all, no matter how strange Kindly appeared, no matter how monstrous his form would look to others, Ryan couldn''t help himself but think of a child at the doctor''s office.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    The fear and pain of being treated, of knowing and understanding that this is what had to happen, but having this unending anxiety in your chest.


    "... His curse, what kind is it?" Ryan asked in a whisper, leaning toward Runar. He slightly raised his brow, glancing at his nephew before going back to watching Modak and Kindly.


    "It''s a type of corruption, one bred to spread, specifically," he replied, and Ryan''s stomach sank.


    The corruption that was latched onto his chest barely affected him; it burned and was uncomfortable, but the dungeon mana protected him. Richie reacted how he did after just being scraped by it. Ryan couldn''t imagine what it was like to be fully infected like that.


    "... Can it be cured?"


    "Regular types of curses can, but corruption is different. It''s like a living thing, latching itself onto others to feed off them. We''re trying to find something to counteract it, but..."


    "Then what''s the plan supposed to be for me?" Ryan asked, glancing down at his own chest. Would he end up having that thing in there forever?


    Runar scratched his throat, trying to find the right words, "We''re going to try and... force the curse out of your body, I guess? In your case, it just infected your physical body, and not your mana. We could technically just cut it all out, but that''s obviously not preferable. So, if everything works out tonight and we''re a bit lucky, then... you''ll be rid of the corruption in a couple of days."


    "Hm... alright... So there''s no way to help Kindly right now?"


    "Not any more than what''s happening right now. Honestly, this is already close to a miracle... Most people or animals that are affected by some kind of corruption don''t die because of the corruption itself. But rather, because it drives them wild and they end up injuring themselves to a point where they will die without treatment. And because of Kindly''s corruption specifically, we can''t even treat him," Runar explained, "The fact that Kindly was able to persist through the mental effects and recover his sanity, and that we have someone that can treat him on top of that... He''s quite lucky."


    Ryan looked over at Modak and the mimic. Now he understood why Runar was so on edge. But it seemed like Modak was finishing up things for the time being anyway, applying the last of the bandages on one of Kindly''s limbs.


    Rose loudly clapped her hands together, just with pure excitement apparent in her whole body, "Alright! And that''s done! We should let Kindly rest now, I''m sure the medicine has made him a bit tired. Once he feels a bit better, maybe we can finally get him into his new shell!" she said gleefully, as Modak carefully stood up, an exhausted smile on his own face.


    "I''m glad I could help," the orc replied, stepping away from Kindly. However, the mimic had wrapped one of his tentacles around his leg, unwilling to let go. Before Modak could really process this, more of Kindly''s limbs stretched out toward him, wrapping themselves around the orc''s body. Seeing this, Runar flinched and tried to stretch out his hand, but Ryan immediately slapped it back down.


    "Dude, calm down. It''s just a hug."


    Runar stared at his nephew, slowly turning back to the wardrobe. As Ryan has said, nothing happened. Kindly pulled Modak in for a few moments, tightly holding him, and then let go just a moment later.


    "For someone that said he''s bad with animals, you''re sure popular with them, huh?" Silvia laughed, looking at Modak''s wet, slime-covered body. With a sigh, the orc stepped away.


    "Shut up," he groaned, trying to walk to his friends, but Runar immediately stopped him.


    "Nope, stop. With all of that on you, you need to get cleaned up first, so stay a few steps away from everyone," Runar said, stepping away from the door to let Modak step through first. He groaned and nodded his head, making his way outside. Before he left through the door, though, he glanced back at Kindly one more time.


    Keeping some distance from the orc, the others quickly followed behind, though Runar stopped Rose from stepping outside. Waiting until the others were out of earshot, he looked at the woman in front of him, "Okay, first of all. Before you let someone that didn''t even know mimics existed until an hour ago treat a cursed mimic, run it by me first," he started, his foot tapping on the ground as he stared through the hazmat suit''s darkened glass front as Rose took a nervous step back, "And second. I get that meeting someone that won''t be affected by you is exciting, but he''s barely 18. Keep it professional and respectful, okay?"


    "I-I wasn''t, I-" Rose stuttered out nervously, trying to turn her head away so that Runar couldn''t look at her face. But she quickly realised that hiding from Runar wasn''t possible, "... I understand. I''m sorry..."


    "No, it''s fine. You didn''t do anything. I get that your situation is rough, I definitely do. I mean, come on, you''re wearing a fucking hazmat suit all day, every day. Just... don''t be weird about it to him," Runar turned around and stepped out the door, quickly making his way down the steps. He looked around a little nervously, trying to find someone, muttering to himself, "And where the hell is she?"


    "So... what now? If it''s so dangerous, Modak can''t just walk through the streets like this, right? And especially not that dense forest," Ryan pointed out, and Runar slowly nodded his head. He kept looking around.


    "Yeah, yeah, we''ll get him some water in a second, don''t worry," Runar replied, and just as he did, a cloud formed above Modak. It was almost cartoonish, with the size and shape appearing like someone just plucked a perfectly fluffy and white cloud from a child''s drawing.


    "I can help with that," Alicia''s voice pointed out, and Runar snapped his head toward the source of that sound, staring at her almost pleadingly. She had appeared out of nowhere with that annoying grin on her face. The elf held forward her hand, pointing at the cloud, locking eyes with Runar. He let out a long groan and rubbed the bridge of his nose.


    "Modak, do you have your phone on you? Or anything else that can''t get wet?"


    "Uh... no, I kept it in the changing room with my other stuff... what''s happening, exactly?" the orc asked nervously, but Runar didn''t fill him in.


    "Just hold your breath."


    Before Modak could ask why, Alicia snapped her fingers. A massive flood of water poured out of the cloud. It wasn''t even just to the extent of heavy rain, but as if someone was emptying out a bathtub over his head. In just a few moments, all the slime that was stuck to Modak was completely washed off. But weirdest of all, neither him nor the floor around him were wet whatsoever. Like the water just completely disappeared.


    "There we go~!" smiling broadly, Alicia took a step closer to Modak, looking him up and down, "So, you''re the one without mana, huh?"


    Modak slowly nodded his head, staring at the woman in front of him in stunned disbelief. However, Alicia quickly turned to Ryan, "And you''re the nephew, the Spirit Keeper, huh?"


    "Yep, and who are you?" Ryan responded, raising his brow as he looked back at the woman in front of him.


    "Straightforward. I like it," Alicia replied, looking at the young man in front of her with a curious smile, "I''m Alicia. Runar called me over to help you find the last fragment of that spirit core you have."


    "Oh! Yeah, that''s great!" Ryan replied, his heart almost skipping a beat. He inwardly looked at Gaia''s two fragments, floating in her domain. She was still asleep now, as she had been since the two fragments were brought back together. Realising that he might be able to wake her up soon, Ryan looked over at Runar, "Are we doing this now?"


    Runar looked over at Alicia, "Are we? Are you ready to go?"


    "I don''t see why not," she responded, "Let''s get going back to Runar''s office. That should be a better place for me to work than here."


    Without further ado, Alicia turned around and started walking down the dirt path, quickly followed by Runar. Ryan and Silvia were about to follow as well, but Modak grabbed both of their arms, pulling them back for a moment.


    "Guys... that..." Modak started, staring at Alicia with wide, open eyes, "Do you know who that is?"


    "I don''t know, someone from the magic tower that Runar knows. That''s what he said at least," Ryan replied, and Silvia looked over at her curiously.


    "Why, do you know her? Is she famous?"


    "Famous? That''s not just ''someone from the magic tower'', that''s Alicia Ethel Boreard, the Mistress of the Magic Tower. She''s probably the most powerful and influential mage in the world right now!"

 42 - Light of Guidance

    Runar placed dark curtains over the windows of his office, completely shutting out the light from the cave outside. Instead, the room was only lit by seven candles that had been placed on the ground. Alicia was drawing a pattern on the ground, where each of the candles was acting as what seemed to be an important component tying it all together.


    Once she was done drawing the pattern, Alicia placed the ceramic bottle she was carrying on her hip into its centre, pulling its cork with a slight ''pop''.


    "Alright, so... what now? How does this work?" Ryan asked, staring at the bottle. He was both excited and anxious, worrying whether or not this was really going to work. If this woman really was the most powerful living mage, and even she couldn''t find the last fragment, then nobody would be able to, right?


    Alicia slowly stood up, petting the dust off her long skirt, "It''s very simple. Spirits are special beings. They are beings made of mana, and we have found that mana can cause mana with the same wavelength to resonate over long distances. Actually, from our tests, there doesn''t seem to be a real decline in the resonance when comparing medium distances to extremely long distances. Even across planar dimensions, it seems like mana of the same wavelength can resonate with itself."


    Ryan tried to follow along with what she was saying, "So basically... because spirits are made of mana, you can make Gaia''s fragments resonate with the last piece?"


    "Yes, exactly," with a slight hum, Alicia nodded, "That being the case, in a practical, non-experiment setting, things get a bit more complicated. Since we don''t already know the location and are trying to find it, we need to set up a beacon, and this beacon needs to consist of a large amount of mana. In this case, it means we need more than half of the spirit core, which you have!"


    Alicia held forward her hand, as if waiting for something. She looked at him with a smile for a while, but Ryan didn''t know exactly what she wanted.


    "Ryan, I think she needs you to give Gaia''s fragments to her," Silvia nudged his side, and he quickly reacted.


    "Oh, right, sorry, uhm... just let me..." slowly, Ryan looked inwardly at Gaia''s domain. The two fragments were still peacefully floating, and Ryan tried to carefully pull them both out, as he would with Maximus. Before long, threads of green mana flowed down Ryan''s arms, gathering together to form the two crystal fragments on his palm. And at the same moment, red wisps of mana flowed down Ryan''s legs, as Maximus appeared beside him.


    The knight had been inside of his domain since last night, but clearly wanted to be out here to watch what was about to happen. Curious, and not sure what to focus on directly, Alicia''s eyes moved back and forth between the fragments and the actual spirit standing next to Ryan.


    "Oh! Look at how wonderful they both look!" Alicia pointed out, "Their mana is just so beautiful!"


    Slowly, Ryan placed the two fragments onto Alicia''s hand. He was a bit nervous to let them go, but if Runar knew her personally, she wouldn''t do anything wrong with them... right?


    Maximus'' sight was following the fragments the whole time, and Ryan looked down at him. He squatted down, "Are you alright?"


    Maximus turned toward Ryan nodded his head just once, but then quickly looked back at Alicia with the fragments. Ryan didn''t know what was going through the knight''s head, but hearing all those things from Runar last night must have not been easy for him either. Hearing what exactly caused these problems, and there were many more spirits out there that had suffered similarly could not have felt great to him.


    "We''ll find them all, don''t worry," Ryan promised, and Maximus hesitated briefly, but then once more nodded. Though Ryan said that, he wasn''t even sure himself if that was possible. Sure, it was what he wanted, but you couldn''t get everything you want in this world. But if what Alicia was about to do worked, then that was a first step in achieving that.


    "Don''t worry," Runar walked up next to Ryan, placing his hand onto his shoulder for a moment, "Clairvoyance is one of Alicia''s strong suits."


    "One of many~!" Alicia agreed, as she placed the two fragments into a small circle within the drawn pattern.


    "H-How... how did you end up meeting Miss Boreard anyway?" Modak wondered, curiously looking at Runar, who couldn''t help himself but scoff


    "Miss Boreard? Seriously?"


    Alicia glared at Runar, "Leave him be, the boy got manners. You could learn a thing or two from him, you know?"


    "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I awakened pretty young, and Rune Mage is a pretty rare class. We didn''t have anyone directly in the family that could teach me, so I went to the Magic Tower for training. And Alicia is the one that taught me," with crossed arms, Runar looked over at the elf, who was nodding her head proudly.


    "And look at how well he turned out for it. He learned from the best," she pointed out, and Modak was almost stunned, barely able to get his words out.


    "Y-You were her student? That... really?" he let out in disbelief, and Runar slightly narrowed his eyes.


    "I''m not sure why you''re in such disbelief there. I''m a very capable man."


    Ryan scoffed, "Yeah, sure."


    "What''s that supposed to mean?"


    "You know exactly what that''s supposed to mean," Ryan smirked.


    "Well, sure... I can be a little forgetful sometimes, but I''ve got a lot of things on my plate. And, I''m capable enough to make you guys these!" Runar quickly walked over to his desk, trying to find the three metal plates he prepared earlier. He had to search for a while because he had a hard time seeing things with just the dim candle-light, but he found them soon enough. Runar walked over to the three newcomers, handing each of them one of the plates.


    "Put this into your phone-case, with the array pointing to your phone, and you should get a signal down here," he explained, turning to his nephew with a smug grin, "I feel like that''s pretty capable, don''t ''cha think?


    "Well... it''s a good start," Ryan joked lightly, pulling out his phone. He peeled the case off and placed the thin plate inside. As he turned the screen on, almost being blinded by the bright light, he soon saw a few bars appear in the corner of the screen. He was even getting a Wi-fi signal from upstairs now. A few messages came in that he had missed while down here.


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    One from his mom, sending him a recipe for lemon-bars that she found. Some from Yanna, talking about a workout plan that her and Ryan had been trying to figure out for him. And then, in the flood of random notifications from apps of phone games he meant to uninstall for weeks already, there was an email from the Awakened Centre. An invitation to something that Yanna had already mentioned. A get-together for newly awakened individuals. He mentally noted it to take a look later, but for now he put his phone back into his pocket. That kind of thing wasn''t important right now.


    "You kids ready to do this?" Alicia asked, just waiting for everyone to get ready, "Please don''t use any spells or skills that use mana right now."


    Ryan watched as Alicia pressed her palms together, as though she were praying. She let out a long breath at such fervour that it seemed almost impossible for her to hold it for as long as she did. Almost instantly, she stopped, and carefully pulled her hands away from each other. With a soft pink glow, a staff appeared between her hands. It was made of wood curling around itself, holding onto a round, pink bulb at its end. Alicia held that end right over the ceramic bottle in the centre of that pattern on the ground.


    With a whispering, almost fading voice, the elf started to recite a chant. It was rhythmic and musical, enthralling to the point where Ryan''s eyes were almost stuck to her lips as she spoke. He turned to the side, and he noticed he wasn''t the only one; the other were staring right at Alicia, as if they were watching the most engaging movie ever.


    By the time Ryan looked back toward Alicia, some liquid was carefully flowing out of the top of the ceramic bottle. It was fully translucent, but it seemed too thick to be water. It was just a step before gelatinous. Once out of the bottle, the liquid split up into eight parts, each forming a small bubble.


    Seven of these bubbles moved to the candles, trapping their flames. But instead of extinguishing them, the liquid just made it all brighter. The walls were quickly covered in fractured light, swerving back and forth. It was like what happened when light reflected off a body of water. The last of the bubbles moved toward the two fragments of Gaia, carefully scooping them up, before carrying them to the centre of the pattern, floating just between the ceramic bottle and the tip of Alicia''s staff.


    The whole time as this happened, Alicia hadn''t stopped her chanting for even a moment, not even to breathe. Her eyes were deeply focused on the bubble containing the fragments. Carefully, she tapped the top of the bubble with her staff, pulling the liquid up into a thin strand. Ryan''s heart almost skipped a beat as he watched the reflections on the walls peel off the surfaces they were on. As if a dome was closing in on them all that the light was being thrown onto instead, the reflections floated through the air, surrounded by nothing but darkness. Before long, Ryan and the others were taken in by this darkness as well. He couldn''t even see his own hands anymore. By the time he looked back in front of himself, that ''dome'' had reached the magic circle on the ground, but it didn''t stop there. These reflections continued on further, even beyond the candles that created them in the first place. A few moments later, the only thing that was visible in this room was the bubble containing the two fragments.


    It was an almost uncomfortable darkness, one that Ryan had never seen before. It was even darker than just closing his eyes usually was. Right now, he would actually have no idea if they were open or not, if it weren''t for that single ball of light dancing right in front of him. Soon, the light was pulled up the thin strand that Alicia had created earlier. Her voice, so serene and quiet as it had been, was now so deafening that it seemed like she was screaming, though in reality it was still nothing but a steady whisper.


    The light soon gathered at the tip of the strand, forming a small, marble-sized ball. Ryan''s eyes were deeply focused on them, as he finally started to see something else beside the light. Alicia''s hands were slowly closing in around it, her pale skin illuminated by the magical lights. As if they were physical, Alicia grabbed it in her right hand. Her whispered chanting ongoing, she held it toward Ryan. He didn''t even have to be told, and carefully took a step forward, taking the marble of light from her.


    Out of everything that was happening, the part that truly surprised Ryan the most was that it was cold to the touch. He looked away from it, watching Alicia guide her fingers to her lips. The light of the marble was reflected in her eyes, and she was staring right at Ryan. He didn''t know why, but it was like his body was acting on its own. He mimicked Alicia and placed the marble to his own lips. And then, he took piece of light into his mouths, swallowing it.


    As the whispers cut out immediately, the light of the candles slowly returned and the room was filled with that soft yellow glow. A system message appeared in front of Ryan.


    <hr>


    [You have taken in the -Light of Guidance-]


    <hr>


    "What... what''s the light of guidance?" Ryan let out, and as he spoke, he realised that he had been holding his breath up until now. At the same time, he could see the liquid move back into the bottle after placing down the two fragments. Alicia smiled at Ryan.


    "It''s how we can find Gaia''s fragment. It''s going to guide you there," she explained, tapping her head, "Just try to concentrate on it."


    Ryan nodded his head, closing his eyes for a moment, trying to search for the ''Light of Guidance''. However, he didn''t have to look for it for long. Inside of Gaia''s domain, a small orb of light was floating. As Ryan focused on it, he could feel it practically pull him in a direction. It was perfectly to the right. To test it out, Ryan slightly turned his head. The pull of the light was still aimed in that same direction.


    "Have you found it?" Alicia asked, "Now, this part might be a bit tricky, especially since you haven''t awakened that long ago. You need to let go and let it pull you to where it wants you to go. It''s going to feel almost like..."


    "Like a very strong ''want'' to go somewhere? Yeah, I think I got it?" Ryan replied, and Alicia blinked a few times in surprise.


    "Wait, you already got it?"


    "I think so? It''s trying to pull me right over there," he pointed in the direction where the light wanted him to go. It was slightly to the right of the door.


    "... Didn''t you just awaken a few weeks ago?" Alicia tried to confirm, not sure if Runar maybe lied to her.


    "On the 14th, yeah. I feel like I''m pretty good at handling mana, I guess. Plus, the fragment is just inside of Gaia''s domain right now, so it was easy to find," Ryan explained, and Alicia clicked her tongue as she turned her head away.


    With crossed arms, the elf glared at Runar, "Like uncle, like nephew, huh? Your family is just so annoyingly talented at using magic."


    Muttering to herself, Alicia walked over to a bag placed on one of the couches. She pulled a scroll out of it; a full-on, proper scroll that looked like it came straight out of a movie.


    "What''s up with her?" Silvia asked curiously, and Runar couldn''t help himself but grin as he responded.


    "When she started teaching me, she would always get super annoyed at how quickly I learned the basics. She wanted to explain and teach it to me more, but I''d skip whole lessons."


    Alicia narrowed her eyes and stared at Runar, "Your bloodline is cheating."


    "Oh get off it," Runar scoffed, "Just open the map already."


    Alicia sighed, unrolling the scroll she was holding. On it was an old, hand-painted map of what seemed to be New Riverside. It wasn''t particularly detailed, but apparently quite accurate. The elven mage looked away from the map and at Ryan, "Now, place your palm on there, and act like you''re pulling out the light. As you did with the fragments earlier."


    "Right, just hold on," Ryan replied, quickly walking over to the magic circle that had been drawn on the ground. Gaia''s two fragments were still laying there, and Ryan quickly picked them up. He pulled them back into Gaia''s domain where they would be safe. They were floating just below that orb of light.


    And then, Ryan came back to Alicia who patiently waited, and he placed his palm onto the map. It was rough and clearly pretty old. Ryan took a deep breath and concentrated on the light in the domain, pulling it out through his hand. He could feel the same chill that he felt when he touched the light earlier; it was like cold water was flowing down his arm onto the paper.


    Alicia prompted him to put away his hand, and as he did, a small circle appeared on the map, drawn around part of the Channel''s island.

 43 - Shadows

    "It''s in the Channel?" Ryan asked with a light frown, and Runar loudly clicked his tongue.


    "Of course it is. Fuckin'' shadows..." he muttered, fairly quietly. Even so, Ryan still heard him.


    "What do you mean, ''shadows''?"


    Though hesitant, Runar knew that this was an important aspect of this situation that Ryan had to be filled in on. He couldn''t not tell him, "... Alright, so... we''re not the only group acting at this ''level''. One of the main groups that''s being a bit of a bother is, well... they''re called the ''White Shadow Society''."


    "Seriously?" Silvia scoffed, hearing that name, "That''s kind of... weirdly clich¨¦, right?"


    "Well, when they got their name, it was very innovative," Runar pointed out, "But their name isn''t important. They''re also in the business of dealing with the mystical, and those that are ''Hidden'' for one reason or another. But... instead of trying to help the ''hidden'' not be ''hidden''... they''re trying to get rid of them altogether."


    Hearing his uncle''s words, the hairs on Ryan''s neck stood up, "What? What do you mean?"


    "I mean exactly what it sounds like," with a loud groan, Runar walked over to the windows to pull the curtains to the side and let some light in again, "They''re honestly the main force we''re fighting against. With every step we take to help the hidden, they take a step against them. They basically hunt all that they deem ''dangerous'' for one reason or another. They''re also the ones pulling the strings behind the auction, and they have massive influence over so, so many companies. Bluesky is one of their major fronts."


    "Blue- what? Seriously?" Ryan let out in disbelief.


    Similarly, Modak and Silvia didn''t know what to think about what Runar just said. The orc quickly shook his head, "No, but Bluesky is a massive corporation, they... why would they..?"


    "Because they were made specifically for this. Awakened people are a massive force. They can get almost impossibly powerful. And Bluesky is the biggest player in every Awakened-related industry that exists," Runar explained, "Why do you think they were going after Ryan that hard? It''s not just because he''s got a unique class."


    "So that Simon guy was one of the ''shadows'' you''re talking about?" Silvia wondered, but Runar quickly denied that.


    "He''s just a goon, I guess. Some random asshole working at the company that doesn''t even know who he''s really working for. Honestly? I doubt there''s more than four or five people at the whole company that actually know everything."


    "So... they stole one of Gaia''s fragments?" Ryan asked, and Runar hesitated as he once more shook his head.


    "First of all, they didn''t ''steal'' it. After your father, you know... The fragments were ready for the taking. And frankly, I believe they might have simply found the full core, probably damaged, and fragmented it themselves."


    Ryan ground his teeth together, "So... they''re the ones that gave Vanda the fragment? And what, they somehow placed the fragment in a dungeon?"


    The word ''hesitation'' was practically written on Runar''s face at this point. There were a lot of things that he had to tell Ryan, but he didn''t know if this was the right moment. However, Runar promised to fill him in, so he did, "The formation of dungeons can be... helped along, so to say. The ''seed'' was probably already there, and then they pushed it a step further with the help of Gaia''s fragment. You said her title was ''Garden Golem'', right? That fits the monsters in the dungeon quite well, right?"


    "Are you serious?" Ryan asked, confused, "Why the fuck would they do that? How does creating dungeons even help those guys? If their goal is total genocide of everyone they don''t like, what do dungeons have to do with that?"


    Before Runar could reply, Alicia spoke up with her own guess, "To get rid of spirits."


    Runar snapped his head toward the elf, "We don''t know that! That''s not-"


    "Get rid of spirits? What do you mean? Runar, what does she mean?"


    Not just Ryan, but Maximus as well; they were both clearly getting worked up. The spirit was staring deeply up at Runar, and Ryan followed suit. The Rune Mage tried to think how to best word it.


    "We don''t know for sure, but... We believe that they are trying to make spirits seem dangerous," Runar explained, "The dungeon was not particularly strong. Like, come on, a level one, newly-awakened kid was able to find the core room in a couple of hours. If it had been anyone else... they would have found the core room, the dungeon would have been closed, and the only thing left behind would have been a spirit core. That would have reported, and..."


    Ryan was stunned, not sure what he was supposed to think. In these moments of silence, Modak slowly spoke, "So... they''re trying to make it seem like spirits cause dungeons?"


    Runar slowly nodded, "That''s the only reason I can think of, yes. It would be great if it''s some kind of misunderstanding, but... after what happened yesterday, with that robot? That just supports the idea further."


    "Wait, how so? Even if Ryan hadn''t been there, that clearly wasn''t the fault of Gaia''s fragment, but because of how it was used! Plus, the university wouldn''t want to spread too much about it either, right?" Silvia asked, not really understanding the purpose behind that, or what Runar was insinuating. But Modak quickly filled in the gaps.


    "It wasn''t supposed to happen yesterday," Modak rubbed the bridge of his nose, finally understanding everything, "When I met with Vanda earlier, she wasn''t able to tell me anything about who gave the fragment to her, but she did mention that he was very interested in the showcase that was supposed to happen today. Even said he might show up himself, to watch. What if Energiser was supposed to go berserk today, and not yesterday? In front of dozens of important people from big tech companies and news people ready to jump on any little incident."


    "Wouldn''t that be a pretty big oversight?" Ryan frowned, "They must have known about the test runs yesterday, right?"


    "Sure, but they probably didn''t know you would be there," Modak suggested, "And if the fragment that was already with you reacted to the one in Energiser, who''s to say it didn''t happen the other way around? You just being there could have made things speed up."


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "Are you serious? So it was my fault..?"


    "No, it''s not like that," Runar immediately replied, "If anything, you being there was the best outcome. Nobody got seriously hurt, and we were able to deal with everything quietly."


    "... So... So what now? What else are they gonna try?" Ryan asked, trying to calm himself down instead of getting angry right away. Getting angry didn''t help him. It never did. It was just so hard to stop it from happening sometimes, especially in situations like this. What was he supposed to do? Just act like everything was fine?


    But Runar just shrugged, "Honestly? No clue."


    "S-Seriously? Aren''t you the head of the family? Just use the head''s... brain, or something, I don''t know, just fucking... come on!" Ryan''s frustration was obvious, and he really wasn''t able to hold it back.


    "Listen, we''re trying, okay? But first, we need to figure out where it is. That should help. The map is linked to the core''s location now. It''s not super accurate, but as long as we search the area in the circle, we should be able to use the ''Light of Guidance'' to find the exact spot," Runar explained, "I''ll arrange what we need to, and then tomorrow we''re heading out to search for it."


    "Tomorrow? Seriously? Let''s just go right now!" Ryan protested, staring at his uncle, unwilling to just leave Gaia''s last fragment with people that want to use her for such ridiculous things.


    "And do what? Just barge into whatever building they''re keeping it in? On our own? No, that''s ridiculous. We have people that can retrieve it after we find where it is, maybe without the Shadows even knowing. But I can''t just call on them in a couple of hours. Plus, we need to take care of your corruption first. I''m sorry, but that''s more important to me right now."


    "But... we have the world''s most powerful mage, and I''m perfectly fine. The corruption thing can wait!"


    "We have what, now?" Alicia asked with a laugh. She was sitting in Runar''s chair at his desk, "I''m sorry, but... the Guidance spell was one thing, but I''m not getting involved in this any further. The Magic Tower thrives to stay completely neutral."


    "What do you mean, neutral? You''re Runar''s teacher!" Ryan pointed out, and Alicia looked back at him, her smile slowly disappearing. Runar''s expression also turned a bit more complicated.


    Alicia crossed her legs, leaning back in the chair, "And I was also the teacher of the former leader of the White Shadow Society. Granted, I didn''t know his association to them at the time, but it really wouldn''t have changed anything. The Magic Tower doesn''t get involved in these things. We''re an institution of knowledge. Not politics."


    "Preventing genocides isn''t politics! It''s common sense, what are you even- How could you be like this?"


    "I''m sorry, but it''s the oath that I, and all my predecessors, have upheld for a thousand years. It''s one thing to do a personal favour for a friend, and another to take sides in a war like this," Alicia replied, though she clearly understood what Ryan was saying, "Listen, even if I wanted to, it''s not something I can do. There''s too much at stake here. Obviously we don''t want anything to happen to spirits either, and seeing innocent people get murdered day after day? I''m sorry, but that''s not... When I say ''oath'', I don''t mean it metaphorically, or the kind of promise that kids make when they say not to eat snacks before supper. I can not help you. I''m sorry."


    The elf slowly stood up, passing by Runar. She gave him a short hug, as the student spoke to his teacher, "Thanks for the help, anyway."


    Ryan''s eyes were closed. He concentrated on his breathing, trying to count backward from ten to calm himself down. Though he hadn''t done this in years, it used to work pretty well, so he figured he might as well give it another shot instead of letting out a massive shout here.


    "Oh, and..." Alicia''s crystal-clear voice cut through Ryan''s counting, but before he could open his eyes to see what she wanted, he felt her finger tap his chest. It was nothing but a light touch, that was much was clear not just from the outside, but to Ryan as well. But it was right in the middle of the part of Ryan''s chest where the corruption had taken hold. All the air immediately escaped Ryan''s lungs as his body tensed up. His legs went weak as he dropped to his knees, trying to clutch his chest but trying to hold back in case touching it would make this even worse.


    As Ryan felt Modak and Silvia come to his side, and as Maximus stepped in front of him with both of his active skills turned on without hesitation, ready to defend him, Alicia continued to speak, "... you''re absolutely not fine. Go get yourself fixed up before you think about helping others. Like this, you''re just going to make things worse for everyone involved."


    The elf stepped up to the door, ready to leave. She fully expected to just be able to go without another word from anyone, but Ryan had something else in mind. His foot slammed on the ground as he forced himself to get back up, "And... and how would you know?" he asked, grinding his teeth as he stared at the back of the woman in front of him, "You''re too much of a coward to get involved in the first place."


    Alicia turned back around, locking eyes with Ryan. She couldn''t help herself but smile, slowly turning to Runar, "And you''re sure you two are related?"


    "... I doubt it myself sometimes," Runar laughed lightly, in disbelief over the sheer fervour that his nephew was showing, "But... it''s probably better if you go. I don''t think I need to show you out, do I?"


    "I wasn''t shown in, so, yeah, I think I can find my way out on my own," Alicia stepped out the door, and the moment it shut behind her, Ryan dropped back down onto one knee.


    "Fuck... Godsdammit... why... why the fuck does it hurt so much?!" Ryan forced his eyes shut while struggling to keep himself calm.


    "Is he okay? Is the corruption spreading..?" Modak asked anxiously, trying to help keep Ryan upright, but Runar just shook his head in response while approaching his nephew, the pen in his hand.


    "It''s nothing like that. The corruption is basically... an open wound? It attached itself to Ryan''s flesh, and just the slightest impact can feel like absolute hell. I said it before, but it''s basically alive, and trying everything it can to stop it from being forcefully pulled out. And the best way to do that is to make it hurt like hell to even touch it," Runar pulled up Ryan''s shirt, exposing his back. Though he did already show it to Modak and Silvia, being exposed like this all of a sudden would still usually feel horrible to him, but Ryan really wasn''t in the state of mind to think about that. The pain was keeping him practically paralyzed against his will. He could barely even feel the nib of Runar''s pen touch his skin. And then, he couldn''t feel anything at all, as the pain faded almost instantly.


    "That... huh?" Ryan let out, "What''s going on?"


    "I numbed your sense of pain. I''d usually prefer not to do that, cause not having a sense of pain at all is dangerous in itself, but it''s better than what''s happening right now," Runar pointed out, "Though to be honest, I''m pretty sure anyone else would have passed out by now. Get up."


    Still unsteady on his legs, Ryan stood up with Modak and Silvia''s help. Runar motioned for Ryan to pull up his shirt, and he awkwardly did as told.


    "What the-" in disbelief over what he was seeing, Runar stared at Ryan''s chest, "How are you even standing right now?"


    "It''s not that bad... is it?" Ryan asked, slowly looking down at his chest. But what he saw definitely wasn''t what his chest looked like earlier. The black tendrils of the corruption had spread all over his chest, and the skin around each part of that horrible darkness was deep purple and blue.


    "This... that''s definitely not from Alicia tapping you just now. We really need to get that shit out of you quickly," Runar started nervously tapping his foot on the ground as he pulled out his phone. As the dial tone sounded out through the speaker, Runar quickly stepped in front of the door, "Anders? Yeah, come here immediately, we need to..."


    The door closed and Runar''s voice faded away, as Ryan, Silvia, Modak, and Maximus were briefly left alone. Neither the elf nor the orc knew what to say. Even the knight spirit was even more speechless than usual.


    However, the silence was soon broken through by Ryan. At least that shock of pain after Alicia left let him calm down pretty quickly.


    "Uh... yeah, so that''s... not good."

 44 - Ruby Symbiote

    Ryan stepped into the car, with Modak and Silvia following behind pretty quickly. Yamada, Runar''s devil assistant, was the one driving, while Runar himself was sitting in the passenger seat.


    "Eh... is it fine to just leave Liam here?" Ryan asked, not sure if that was a good idea. It was first day here, so already leaving him alone felt sort of bad.


    Runar quickly replied, "Yeah, Anders is staying with him. He''s pretty good with kids. I mean, he''s got a couple on his own, so he better be."


    "Huh, well, I guess it''s fine then?"


    Curiously, Silvia leaned forward, "He''s got kids? How old are they?"


    "Uh... good question, I keep forgetting," Runar said, looking over at Yamada. He leaned forward and signed to her so she could read his hands without having to look away from the road. She held up her left hand and quickly replied, signing the numbers in sequence.


    "Ahh, right, right. They''re 27, 24, and 20," Runar translated, and Ryan slightly narrowed his eyes.


    "... Anders looked like 30, what the hell?"


    "Well, dwarves look 30 from when they''re 12, and stay like that until they''re 80, so. Yeah," Runar joked, "But yeah, he''s... 57? Yeah, 57."


    Ryan raised his brow. Something about that felt weird, but he also really didn''t care too much. He barely exchanged two sentences with Anders, so it didn''t really matter. That being the case, he was also a lot more focused on trying not to let the seatbelt press onto his chest. Even if he couldn''t feel it right now, since Runar completely blocked his ability to feel any sort of pain, or even the slightest touch, if the corruption tried to fight back and somehow continued injuring Ryan''s body, that wasn''t going to turn out all too well for him.


    "So, where are we going right now? You said something about a ''symbiote nest''?" Ryan asked, and Runar quickly explained.


    "Yes, so, it''s exactly that. It''s the place where we keep ''symbiotes''. They''re a species that require a ''bond'', because they can''t really survive on their own for too long. Once they''re bonded to someone else, they practically fuse into their body. They improve general health, one''s immune system, their ability to heal wounds, and all sorts of good stuff. In some cases, they even extend their bond''s lifespan a good bit."


    "Oh, that... what the hell?" Ryan asked, not sure why he keeps getting surprised, "And let me guess, you''re protecting them because rich assholes will try to exploit them?"


    "Yup, basically. But the thing is that symbiotes are living, thinking individuals. They''re hard to classify exactly, but if we had to, we would put them more into the category of ''people'' rather than ''animals'', but they''re probably a bit too unique to be put into categories like that. Anyway, they choose their bond. If they don''t like someone, they will refuse to bond with them. If someone then tries to force that to happen, shit goes really wrong, and both parties sides usually die or get crippled permanently."


    "So..." Modak started, trying to collect his thoughts about this a bit, "... you''re hoping that one of these symbiotes will like Ryan enough to want to form a bond with him?"


    "Mhm, exactly," Runar turned around, smiling at the orc, "The issue is that there really aren''t many symbiotes, and they would rather die than form a bond with someone they dislike. So... only about a tenth of all symbiotes form a bond before passing. And there''s only about a dozen under our protection."


    Silvia nervously looked over at Ryan, "So, there''s only a ten percent chance that Ryan can bond with a symbiote and get rid of the corruption?"


    Runar scoffed, unable to hold back a laugh "No, not even close. It''s a ten percent chance that an individual symbiote will like any of the candidates we present to them over their lifetime. And we present many to them, trust me. The chance of a symbiote finding any individual adequate enough to bond with them is probably less likely than awakening."


    "Then what if it doesn''t work?"


    "Then we''ll have to try something else," Runar replied, turning to the elf, "But honestly, there''s one weirdo amongst the symbiotes that I think will like Ryan quite a bit. And come on, do you know how lucky Ryan''s been since he awakened? Even when he''s unlucky, like with the mana poisoning, it all works out because the dungeon mana let him avoid being infected by the corruption."


    "What, do you think that''s another ''fate'' thing?" Ryan asked. He still didn''t like the idea of things being controlled by some external force he couldn''t even understand, but if it helped him, then he couldn''t really complain all too much. Runar seemed to think about it for a moment, but in the end just shrugged.


    "Maybe, maybe not. Either way, you''re fucking lucky as hell. And I''m confident in betting on that," Runar grinned, turning back around to look away from the back seats.


    "So... do I have to do this symbiote thing? It sounds kind of weird," Ryan pointed out, "I mean, it''s one thing to take care of, like, spirits and keep in them basically in my body, and it''s a whole other thing to let something called ''symbiote'' directly fuse with my body."


    Runar immediately turned back around, rapidly shaking his head, "Oh, no, no, you don''t have to, definitely not. I wanted to explain it a bit more before we head out, but the corruption is a bit worse than I expected, so we have to hurry and figure out a solution. I''ll explain it all a bit more now, but seriously, you don''t have to if you''re not totally comfortable with it. I mean, you can''t really undo it, so you do need to be sure."


    "...Okay, that doesn''t really make feel much better, to be honest. So it''s either permanently accepting something into my body, or getting a large chunk of my chest cut out?"


    "Yes? Technically?" unable to deny that, the rune mage looked back at him, "But the thing is, symbiotes are a... two-way road. That''s kind of their whole thing. It''s not really a ''choice'' thing. It''s like a wavelength. Like when you meet someone and immediately get along. A sort of... connection at first sight. Unless that happens, the bond will not freely form. Even if the symbiote takes a liking to you, and you somehow don''t feel truly comfortable accepting them, the bond will not form. It''s as simple as that."


    "That one does make me feel better, I guess," sighing a breath of relief, Ryan leaned into the seat, still holding the seatbelt away from his chest, "So, what the one you mentioned like? The one you''re thinking of."


    Runar smirked, "Well, to be blunt... you kind of share a hobby."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    They floated through the water, their body melding into the cool liquid around it. There were pretty lights blinking all around that were quite nice to look at, but otherwise, this place was pretty boring. Compared to this, even that dirty lake they grew up in was better.


    The insects, the fish, the... everything. It was beautiful, much better than here. Sure, it was dangerous, and they got injured and sick a lot, so they had little reason to really complain. But still, something was missing from here. Something that they couldn''t quite put their finger on.


    Hm? What was a ''finger''? It was that thing that those people outside the water had at the ends of those dangly limbs. The people had mentioned that word a few times, and that phrase in particular sounded pretty funny, so it quickly became one of their favourites.


    That was the part of their day that they enjoyed the most. Some people or animals would come, and they, as well their siblings, were brought out for a quick introduction. Once or twice before, one of their siblings chose to form a ''bond'', but that barely ever happened. They never really never liked any of the people, and the animals were too stupid to seem interesting at all. But there was one thing that they started to like! Using the pebbles and plants at the bottom of the tank, they started to try and make more of those people. Those were the most interesting, so they figured if they could be reproduced, they could have fun all the time!


    But the ones that they made never really looked right, and their siblings would always come and break them. Their siblings were all bigger, and just because they were the only one that stuck out in the water, they were always being picked on. They really didn''t like that at all. They really wanted to go back to the lake.


    Oh, the people were opening that small door at the bottom of the tank. That meant they were supposed to come out to meet someone new. It was kind of annoying. They weren''t going to like that person anyway.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Woah, look at that one!" Silvia gleefully exclaimed, pointing at one of the fish swimming through the reinforced glass tube above the group. It was a species of fish that none of the three had ever seen before, similar to how there were tons of animals and people that they hadn''t seen before in the hideout under the caf¨¦.


    This place specifically wasn''t a repurposed ruin, though, and instead a place that seemed to have been specifically constructed for this in the river-lake right next to Lakeview. Plenty of aquatic people lived not only above water, but here in the submerged district of New Riverside. And this place was built in an underwater cave right at the edge of that submerged district where the lake met the central river island that most of New Riverside was built on.


    The one that was currently guiding them through this space was a Piscette; specifically, a Goldfish Piscette, whose bright orange scales stuck out very strongly even in here. And even though Piscettes were supposed to be somewhat sluggish out of water, this one''s steps were so fast that it was kind of annoying to try and keep up with him.


    "And here we go!" he exclaimed, as they all finally reached their destination. Though, it really just looked like some kind of empty tank. It connected through a tube to a slightly larger one that actually had some plants, but there still didn''t seem to be anything swimming in there.


    "Uh... so... this is where the symbiotes are supposed to be?" Ryan asked, looking at his uncle, who quickly leaned onto the edge of the tank.


    "They''re not ''supposed to be'' here. They are here, look," Runar pointed at the water. Taking a closer look, Ryan narrowed his eyes. And that was when he saw it; there was something wriggling at the surface of the water. He slightly squatted down, trying to look at the water-level, and that''s where he saw them. Almost perfectly translucent blobs, like a bunch of near-invisible jellyfish.


    Modak and Silvia also soon noticed them, and the orc looked up at Runar, almost disappointed, "These are symbiotes? They look kind of... disappointing."


    The piscette that had been guiding them let out an awkward laugh, "Please do not say things like that right in front of them. They can understand Riverian perfectly fine."


    "O-Oh, that... I''m sorry... I didn''t mean it like that! I''m called disappointing a lot too!" Modak nervously tried to make up for accidentally insulting the symbiotes, but it only resulted in a laugh from Ryan.


    "Dude, come on. Seriously?"


    "I didn''t mean to insult them!" Modak whispered nervously, but Runar quickly calmed him down.


    "It''s fine, they usually don''t really care about that kind of thing. They''re probably thinking much worse about all of us, anyway," he pointed out, searching through the tank with his gaze, "I can''t find the red one. Did something happen to them?"


    The piscette glanced around the tank, "No, they should be okay. I just saw them this morning! They''re usually one of the first ones out... Oh! There they are!"


    Just as the piscette said this, Ryan spotted something come out from the tube that connected to the other, larger tank. It seemed to be the symbiote that Runar mentioned; the only red symbiote. While the others were fully translucent, this one had a deep, red colour that looked like someone had mixed blood and water together. This symbiote looked almost shy, the way they were moving along at the bottom of the tank. Also, though he couldn''t see the size of the other symbiotes perfectly, the red one seemed to be a lot smaller than the others too, almost half the size.


    "That''s weird, I''ve never seen them act like that..." the piscette pointed out, and Ryan carefully glanced over at Runar, who had a massive grin on his face.


    Nervous, Ryan did as his uncle had said earlier. He placed his hand into the water. It was a bit weird, though. Since he still couldn''t feel anything, the disconnect from seeing the water swallow his hand and not being able to feel it happen was quite jarring. But either way, Ryan just held his hand in the water for a while. The other symbiotes seemed to quickly move out of the way, but the red one was the only one that didn''t react too much. Instead, they were moving a bit closer, though very slowly. But it wasn''t just the symbiote either. Ryan weirdly hated admitting that his uncle was right, something he might have to try and evaluate sooner or later, but he weirdly did feel a kind of connection with that red symbiote, even if they didn''t form a bond yet.


    It wasn''t the exact same, of course, but it was kind of similar to how when he first met Modak and Silvia. That immediate sensation of closeness that was hard to truly define. Slowly, the symbiote touched Ryan''s finger. Even though his body was still supposed to be numbed, Ryan actually felt it.


    Carefully, the red symbiote climbed up his finger and onto the back of his hand. That living mass of goo wriggled once out of the water, as if trying to shake the wetness away as a dog would.


    Once they calmed down, the symbiote pressed themself flat onto his skin. They slowly shrank down, being absorbed into Ryan''s skin. But they never seemed to fully disappear, as a red swirl was left on the back of Ryan''s hand. That swirl continued to move, flowing over Ryan''s skin. He could feel the symbiote move up his arm, and soon reached his chest.


    Ryan could tell what was about to happen, but he was quickly distracted by the system message that appeared before him


    <hr>


    [You have formed a bond with a -Ruby Symbiote-]


    [The Ruby Symbiote is expelling the Corruption from your body]


    <hr>


    All at once, a wave of shock flowed through Ryan''s body. As if all the pain that he was supposed to feel over the past one and a half hours returned to hit him all at once with some bonus interest. Ryan''s eyes rolled into his head as he almost fell over backward, but he was able to catch himself in the last moment, forcing himself to stay upright. Grinding his teeth, Ryan grabbed his shirt. He wanted to just take it off normally, but he couldn''t really control himself well enough for that. So, instead, as his fingers dug into the fabric, Ryan just completely tore his shirt off his upper body. As he did, he could see the black mass latched onto his chest pulsating to Ryan''s heartbeat.


    Bit by bit, with every beat, it seemed to protrude more and more. The tendrils digging into his skin were starting to loosen. There were marks left behind, but Ryan didn''t really care too much about that. He just wanted this thing out of there. He tried to grab at the corruption, but Runar held back his nephew''s arm.


    "No, don''t! Just let the symbiote do their thing!" Runar''s voice somehow managed to pierce through Ryan''s current state of mind as he slowly nodded. But of course, it was easier said than done. Despite what his uncle was saying, he couldn''t help himself but want to tear it away, like some kind of instinct. However, Runar simply grabbed both of Ryan''s wrists, holding them in place without struggling whatsoever. It was like Ryan was locked to a brick wall, though it was probably easier to resist that wall compared to Runar at this point.


    And then, after what seemed like far too long, the black, corrupted mass fell of Ryan''s chest. A burning sensation was left behind in its stead, but that paralyzing pain was gone, all at once. The last thing that Ryan could see before everything went dark was that thing crumbling away into dust.

 45 - :D

    With his chest aching painfully, Ryan couldn''t stop himself from groaning and flinching as he sat up. He was laying in a hospital bed, but from the large aquarium right in front of him, and all those weird fish swimming through it, he figured he was still inside of that hidden base in Lakeview.


    Glancing down at himself, Ryan was only wearing his trousers. For a moment, he was confused, but then he remembered what happened before he fell unconscious. He had completely ripped apart his shirt by himself. At least it was already pretty old, so he didn''t care too much.


    However, as he looked down, there were two things that caught his eye more than the fact he was shirtless. First, there was the large, ugly scar covering his chest. As Ryan touched it, it still felt sore, so it would probably fade a lot, but he doubted it would go away completely. One more scar wouldn''t really make a difference at this point anyway.


    But then, there was something else that was bordering the scar. Toward the edge of the left side of his chest, as well as his whole left shoulder and arm, were covered in blood-red patterns intricately flowing over his skin. At first glance they looked like a complex sleeve-tattoo, but of course that wasn''t the case. This was the symbiote that Ryan had bonded with. As if they realized that Ryan was looking at them, the symbiote''s patterns reacted to him, slightly shaking. Looking down at the back of his hand, a small, familiar symbol appeared.


    " :D "


    Ryan scoffed in surprise, unable to stop himself from laughing, "Really? That''s what you''re going with?"


    Quickly, the symbol was replaced, " :) "


    "You can''t write other things? Do you have a name?"


    " :( "


    "I''m guessing that''s a ''no''. Do you want me to help you come up with one?"


    Immediately, two symbols started rapidly replacing each other on the back of Ryan''s hand, " :D ! :D ! :D ! :D ! "


    With a laugh, Ryan threw his legs over the edge of the bed, "And I''m guessing that''s a ''yes''."


    As he said so, Ryan carefully stood up, when the door opened up, and Silvia''s voice was quickly heard, "Hm, no, that one tastes kind of gross."


    "Really? I kind of like it," Modak replied, clearly chewing on something. He looked into the room, seeing that Ryan was up, "Oh, perfect! Ryan, have you tried those orange flavoured droplet candies?"


    "I think so? Are those the sour ones?"


    "Mhm, exactly," Silvia replied as she threw one over to him. Ryan quickly caught the small package and groaned.


    "Ew, individually wrapped candy..."


    "That''s what I said!" Modak threw up his hands, "But it''s vending-machine stuff, so you can''t really be picky, I guess."


    As Ryan fiddled with the edge of the small candy wrapper, Runar stood in the doorway, staring at the three in disbelief, "Are you... are you seriously talking about candy when Ryan just woke up?"


    The three looked at each other for a moment, and then turned back to Runar, as Silvia spoke for them all, "Honestly? Getting worked up about stuff is starting to be kind of exhausting."


    "Yeah, plus you did warn us beforehand that this might happen," Modak pointed added, and Runar shook his head in disbelief.


    "Kids these days," Runar sighed as he walked up to Ryan, "Come on, let me take a look."


    Ryan quickly turned his shoulder toward his uncle, holding his arm forward, "They''re a ''Ruby Symbiote'', by the way. According to the system, at least."


    "Ah, alright, I figured they were a subspecies. But ''Ruby Symbiote'', huh? Haven''t heard that one before," Runar curiously looked at Ryan''s arm, as Modak and Silvia also took a closer look.


    "Is there a difference?" Silvia wondered, and Runar seemed hesitant to answer with certainty.


    "Well... yes? There''s pretty strong individual differences between symbiotes anyway. You know, every person is different, and every symbiote is different as well, so their specific bond will be very different. Like in any other type of relationship. Just because they''re a subspecies doesn''t mean they have any special qualities, but it also doesn''t mean they don''t. It''s kind of a case-by-case thing, so we''ll just have to wait and see what happens."


    Runar eyes slowly wandered down to the back of Ryan''s hand, where the Ruby Symbiote''s smile was being proudly displayed, " :D "


    "That is... interesting. I''m not sure if that counts as a ''special quality'', but I don''t remember emoticons being usual patterns."


    " ? :( ? " the two symbols flashed on Ryan''s hand, and Runar''s eyes widened.


    "And that is definitely not usual. Can you say anything else?"


    " :( "


    Quickly, Ryan translated, "That one means ''no''."


    "Thanks. Couldn''t have figured that one out without ''cha," Runar rolled his eyes, before looking away from Ryan''s arm and onto his chest instead, "That one looks pretty nasty... are you okay with that?"


    Ryan shrugged, though that motion itself kind of hurt, "I mean, I can''t really change it anymore, now can I?"


    "I mean, we could hire a really good healer to prevent as much of a scar as possible," Runar suggested.


    Ryan thought about it for a moment, but in the end just shook his head, "It''s fine. To be honest, I''m just glad I''m rid of that thing. It''s fully gone, right? I don''t have any of it on me anymore?"


    "No, no, you''re fine. I triple-checked," Runar assured him, and then quickly handed Ryan what he had been holding this whole time, "Here, a new shirt."


    "Oh, thanks. Getting kinda breezy," Ryan awkwardly pointed out as he unfolded it. He quickly pulled it over his head, and only then noticed that it had something written on the front. The shirt showed a small, translucent blob, with text underneath that read ''I bonded with a symbiote and all I got was this t-shirt''.


    "I... can I... can I wear this outside? Why do these exist?"


    Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Runar shook his head, "Don''t ask me, Ryan, I have no idea. I think it was some inside joke between the people that work here, and someone had a couple of them made at some point. But... yeah, honestly, who cares? Most people don''t know about symbiotes anyway, so it doesn''t matter."


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "I guess so..." Ryan still wasn''t convinced, but he figured it was better than running around shirtless. He looked at the back of his hand, "What do you think?"


    " ! ! ! :D ! :D ! ! "


    "You like it, huh? Fair enough," Ryan responded with a chuckle, "So... can we leave now? I am so exhausted."


    "Yeah, sure, let''s go, it is getting a little late," Runar agreed, "Yamada is waiting by the car. We''ll drop you two off at your places on the way back, but let''s grab something to eat first."


    "Oh thanks the gods, I could really eat something right now..." Modak grumbled, "Something more than candy, I mean."


    "Perfect, then let''s go."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Exhausted, Ryan stepped into his room. He dropped forward onto his bed, groaning loudly because he forgot that his chest was still in immense pain, "Ouch..."


    He pulled his face away from the pillow, glancing at his hand.


    " :( "


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be fine. I don''t think I thanked you for getting that thing out of me yet, by the way. So... thank you."


    " :D "


    "Though... I guess I should properly introduce you to someone. Uh... can you see just through my palm? Or can you see what I can see?"


    " :( ! :( "


    "So... no to both?"


    " :) "


    Ryan thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out what seemed to make the most sense. Thinking back, to begin with, the symbiotes didn''t have any eyes or any other sensory organs. So maybe they just sensed things differently in the first place, "Do you just sort of see everything around you? Even if I don''t?"


    " :D "


    "That makes things easier," Ryan yawned, though he realised something else very quickly, "Oh, but you''re probably also going to be sleeping while I am, right?"


    The symbiote quickly changed the pattern on the back of Ryan''s hand, " :) "


    With a tired sigh, Ryan propped himself up, using the pillows to support his back. Maximus was already good to go, so the spirit simply appeared on the blanket in front of Ryan, who quickly faced the back of his hand toward the small knight.


    "Maximus, this is... my bonded symbiote, and for-now-nameless-symbiote, this is Maximus. He''s a spirit, and you two will be seeing each other a lot."


    Maximus bowed forward to greet the symbiote, and Ryan noticed the sensation of their pattern changing very rapidly on the back of his hand. It was like a slight tickle. Taking a closer look, he soon saw a flurry of symbols that showed clear excitement.


    " :D ! :) C: ! ! ! :D :O ! :D "


    "You okay?" Ryan asked with a slight smile, and the symbiote seemed to hesitate for a moment, as their last symbol very slowly and deliberately turned into a new one that Ryan hadn''t seen from them yet.


    " -> "


    Ryan raised his brow, slowly moving his hand around. The arrow shifted, always pointing in a specific direction; the shelf on the other side of the room. Slowly, Ryan stood up and walked over toward it, picking Maximus up as he did.


    "Are you interested in the models?" Ryan asked, smiling lightly, "Runar told me you''d try and make small models of the people and animals you meet from what you found in the tank, right?"


    " :D :O !!! :D "


    "I can show them to you tomorrow, if you want. Today I''m a bit tired, alright?"


    " :D ! "


    With a yawn, Ryan walked back over to his bed, glancing at his desk as he did so, "Oh, and Maximus. Do you want to go back to the domain, or stay up and read? I can turn the computer on for you, if you''d like."


    Maximus looked up at Ryan for a moment, thinking about it for a moment. From Ryan''s perspective, Maximus'' mood had clearly improved vastly once he realised that they now basically had an arrow pointing right at Gaia''s last fragment. Plus, he could enter and exit his domain whenever he wanted, whether or not Ryan was awake, so he could rest and let the spirit do his own thing.


    Carefully, Maximus pointed at the computer monitor, and Ryan quickly nodded. He turned on his computer, propping up the books for the spirit the way he liked it. When the computer turned on, he navigated to the site that Maximus was reading comics on last time, and quickly left the spirit to do his own thing, "Don''t stay up too late. I know you don''t really need sleep, but reading all night can still be pretty exhausting."


    Ryan quickly turned off the lights, letting the room only be illuminated by the monitor, though it didn''t matter much for Ryan. He was too tired to care, anyway.


    "Goodnight, you two," Ryan said quietly, as he slowly dozed off into sleep.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Modak turned the key around in the lock, pushing the door open in front of him. As he stepped inside, the smell of cigarette smoke practically assaulted him, "Urgh, dad, come on... Why are you smoking inside?"


    After he stepped into the adjacent living-room, Modak''s father let out a slight grumble, "Pah! I can smoke whenever I want!"


    The young orc sighed, walking across the room to open the window, "I didn''t say you can''t, but I thought mom told you not to smoke inside."


    "Your mother''s not here, so who cares?"


    Modak raised his brow, confused, "What do you mean, she''s not here?"


    With the cigarette in his mouth, the ash dropping onto his dirty shirt and getting caught in his beard, Modak''s father continued grumbling, "With that friend of hers... Mala was her name, was it?"


    "I think so," Modak replied, walking over to the kitchen. He briefly pulled open the fridge and freezer, and let out a quiet sigh or relief. There wasn''t any prepped food, so that meant his mom would be coming home tonight. But at the same time, that meant Modak would have to get his dad to stop smoking, or else this would start a fight when his mom got home.


    Though, frankly, it wasn''t particularly hard. Modak walked up to his father, standing between him and the TV, "Dad?"


    "... What?"


    Without saying another word, Modak simply stared at his father for a few moments. Growing nervous, Brog groaned and reached over, pressing the half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray, "Happy?"


    "Yup," Modak replied, grabbing the ashtray to empty it out in the trash. Looking at his son''s back, Brog seemed to get curious.


    "So, what did you do today? Ya had work?"


    Modak quickly shook his head, "No, I was at Ryan''s place."


    "Hm... are you sure you''re not-"


    "Yes, dad, I am positive that Ryan and I are not dating."


    "I wouldn''t mind you were, you know?" Brog pointed out, staring at his son. With a slight laugh, Modak shook his head.


    "Again, we''re not. I am kind of talking to someone, though. I might bring her over sometime."


    "Is it that Silvia?"


    "No, it''s not Silvia either, dad. Her name is Yanna, and she''s very, very nice."


    Brog turned back to the television, "Can''t blame me for thinkin'' you''ve got somethin'' going on with one of those two. You spend all your time with them!"


    Though the young orc wanted to deny that, Modak quickly stopped himself. That part was true; the three did spend a ton of time together. But even so, "I promise you, I am not dating either Ryan nor Silvia. Technically I''m also not dating Yanna yet, but... we''re getting somewhere, I guess."


    "Good! I wanna meet my grandkids someday! The gods know your older brother ain''t givin'' us any!" Brog laughed loudly, and Modak''s smile quickly dropped.


    "Sister, dad. Older sister. Not brother," he explained, once again, and Brog nervously sat up straight.


    "Oh, I''m... I''m sorry, son... I try, you know?"


    Modak sighed lightly, trying to force his smile back up, "I know. Just... keep trying, alright? Anyway, I''m pretty tired, so I''ll head to bed now. Goodnight, dad. And please, don''t start smoking again. And close the window before you go to bed."


    "Yes, yes, I''m not a child!" Brog laughed, and Modak smiled as he made his way into the hallway.


    "Night, dad."


    "Goodnight, son!"


    A bit annoyed at his father for taking everything as lightly as he always did, Modak shut his bedroom door behind him. And he really did not want to see his father''s face when he realized that Yanna was a minotaur, so even if they wanted to, the two would never be able to have kids together. Not that it mattered to Modak much anyway, but his father always kept going on and on about grandkids for some reason.


    Modak let out a long groan as he dropped his bag on the ground, quickly getting undressed. He already laid down in bed, when he realized he hadn''t brushed his teeth yet. After a contemplating whether it was worth it to get up again now that he was already in bed, Modak groaned and forced himself up. He wouldn''t be able to fall asleep otherwise anyway.

 46 - Hot

    The early morning''s sunlight shone through the cracks in the window blinds, while the rhythmic beeps of the phone''s alarm went off over and over again. Trying to force his eyes open, Ryan patted the bed where his phone usually was. Annoyed to find that it wasn''t where he usually put it, he let out a loud groan and sat up.


    Ryan eventually found his phone under his pillow, but not without spotting Maximus, still seated in front of the computer. With a raised brow, trying to keep his tired eyes open, Ryan looked at the time. 9:01am.


    "Did you pull an all-nighter?" with a slight groan, Ryan pulled his legs over the edge of the bed. His whole body was aching all over, as if he had worked out every single muscle yesterday. The knight had turned around confused, and quickly glanced at the time in the bottom right of the monitor.


    As if in a panic, Maximus waved his arms around, but Ryan just waved him off with a long yawn, "You''re good, man. It happens. As long as you''re alright, it doesn''t really matter."


    A bit awkwardly, as if he were standing on new legs, Ryan got up from his bed. The moment he did, his stomach practically growled, so loud that it could probably be heard outside in the hallway. Ryan had never been more hungry than he had been now. And though he didn''t know for sure, he had a pretty good guess as to why.


    On the back of his hand, he could see a spiral, slowly shaking on his skin. The spiral extended outward onto his arm, branching out into more complex patterns, though compared to last night, they were definitely a lot simpler.


    It seemed like the symbiote that Ryan had formed a bond with last night was still asleep, so he figured he shouldn''t wake them up. But right when he thought so, the spiral started furling away and opening a ring on the back of his hand, before three simple symbols appeared.


    " Zzz ", the symbols were still waving around, not being as bold and clear as the ones from yesterday.


    Ryan scoffed lightly, "So, you can use letters for this, but not to write?"


    The symbiote''s symbols slowly became more solid as they woke up, " :,c "


    "Don''t worry, maybe you can learn how to someday. Though this works right now too, right? I can understand you, at least."


    " :D "


    Ryan smiled lightly and looked down at his chest. The large scar from yesterday was still very blatant, though it was a bit less red. Though maybe that was also just because now, he had the symbiote''s large red pattern encroaching on the left side of his chest. The way that the pattern was wriggling was slightly unnerving, like it was alive, but it wasn''t an uncomfortable thing. Ryan just wasn''t used to it yet.


    But thinking about it, it was a kind of weird feeling. He had the corruption stuck to him, something that infested his body, threatening to take over. And the way that he solved that was by letting something else directly infest and spread through his body. Logically, it was swapping one bad thing for something slightly less bad, but when Ryan actually looked down at the symbiote, it just felt right.


    This was probably exactly what Runar was talking about yesterday; the ''bond'' was a special thing, something that extended beyond just the physical. Even before the two connected directly, after Ryan saw the symbiote, he felt like something he just had to do. And now that they bonded, it felt like something he didn''t even know was missing had come back to him. It was a weird realization, but this whole thing was surprisingly easy to get used to.


    Though, that only was the case on an emotional level; his body was killing him. He was insanely sweaty after waking up and was feeling ridiculously hot, he was so hungry he could eat a dragon, and his whole body hurt with every step he took. Not to mention, he was so, so thirsty all of a sudden.


    "Maximus, just feel free to keep reading, I''ll be in the kitchen," he said, not even waiting for a reaction before rushing out of the door. Practically running, Ryan made his way into kitchen. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it up with water, pouring it down his throat. After doing this a couple of times, Ryan pulled open the fridge. All those leftovers from Runar were still in there, and Ryan quickly grabbed one of the boxes.


    After smelling it to see if it was still good, Ryan grabbed a fork and started shovelling the fried noodles into his mouth. He didn''t even notice that Runar was standing in the doorway, "Hey, I was actually going to eat that."


    Ryan looked past the edges of the box, locking eyes with his uncle. With a full mouth, he tried to get out the right words to point out that there was no way he was going to eat this, as he never does, but it was just inaudible blabbering.


    "Finish chewing first," Runar sighed as he walked further into the kitchen, putting the paper bag he was carrying onto the table. Ryan curiously watched as Runar pulled out the items inside; Protein bars, packaged meat, blocks of cheese, and tons of dry pasta. After swallowing the food in his mouth, Ryan looked back at his uncle, "What''s all that?"


    "Some stuff for you to eat," Runar replied, "It usually takes about a week for the symbiote to properly settle in a body. In that time, your body will use up tons of calories, you will be experiencing the worst muscle pains ever, and you might end up severely dehydrated if you''re not careful. I also bought these hydration powder things, so keep them with you when you go out."


    Ryan continued eating, looking at his uncle with a slight stare, "Don''t you think a warning would have been kind of nice?"


    "Don''t you think wearing a shirt and trousers would have been nice?"


    "... Stop fashion policing me."


    Runar sighed lightly, "I figured it was better to not stress you out with even more stuff. Not like this is going to be particularly bad anyway. The muscle pain is the worst part, but you would''ve had to deal with that on your way to opening your strength stat anyway."


    "Right," Ryan raised his brow, remembering something that Runar had said to him last night, "You mentioned that symbiotes improve strength, right? Does that translate into stats somehow? Like a specific point increase?"


    "No, no, it''s not like that," Runar quickly shook his head, "Symbiotes will basically adjust the hormones and proteins in your body to the perfect degrees that are needed for muscle growth and recovery. They don''t directly increase your strength, but they make it easier for you to gain muscle. Basically... your physical stats are getting a growth boost from now on. And a pretty big one too."


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    "Hm... are you bonded with a symbiote too?"


    Runar scoffed, "Nah, I wish. When I was younger I''d try to meet every new symbiote that came in because I wanted to quickly get stronger, but it wasn''t really meant to be. And at this point, I''m strong enough to not have to worry about that."


    With narrowed eyes, Ryan chose to ask something that he had been curious about, though he didn''t get an answer last time, "How high are your stats anyway? And which ones do you have?"


    "I already said so, but I''m not telling you that."


    "Oh come on, why not? I can tell you my stats," Ryan offered, but Runar just scoffed and shook his head.


    "Yeah, sorry, but we''re in very different situations here. There''s a reason why I can''t tell you. Just trust me."


    "Can you at least tell me why you can''t tell me?"


    "Obviously not," Runar started putting away the things that he bought for Ryan, "More importantly, when you feel hungry, just don''t hesitate and eat whatever you want. I have no idea if ruby symbiotes act differently, so just listen to your body and your cravings."


    Ryan nodded as he finished the box of leftovers, quickly throwing the box into the bin, when a certain young vampire stepped into the kitchen. With a narrowed gaze, Liam let out a disappointed sigh, "Cover yourself, harlot!"


    "Oh calm down," Ryan scoffed, "I''m far too hot for that."


    "Humble yourself," Liam shook his head, as Ryan stared back at him.


    "I meant that I am physically really warm. It''s like I''m in an oven or something," with a loud groan, Ryan walked out of the kitchen, "If it''ll be like this for a week, then we''re picking up buckets worth of ice cream later. I''m going to take a shower now."


    "Don''t take too long, we''re heading out to try and find the fragment in an hour," Runar yelled after him, and Ryan quickly turned around and peeked into the kitchen.


    "In an hour?"


    "Yeah, does that not work?"


    Ryan immediately shook his head, "No, no, it works! It totally works! We can go sooner, even, I-"


    "Ryan, calm down. Take a shower, get dressed, and then we can head out. Alright?"


    "... Alright. Thanks."


    Without further ado, Ryan made his way to the bathroom. He stripped out of his underwear and jumped into the shower without hesitation. The cold water just felt heavenly. With a long sigh, watching the water flow down his body, Ryan noticed something that he hadn''t up until just now. He was way too busy stuffing his face. But he could swear that he got leaner, as if the symbiote had sucked up all the fat on Ryan''s body. No wonder he was so hungry, all his reserves had been used up.


    Sure, he looked good like this, but he didn''t necessarily care all too much for it. Plus, he only ever heard about how miserable looking like this actually was; you were always hungry and cold, and that wasn''t something that Ryan wanted to deal with. He hoped that after this week, his body would return to some sort of normal.


    For a while longer, Ryan just stood there, watching the cold water flow down his arms and chest. Cold showers were usually his worst enemy, but right now, it was truly the best thing he could have ever asked for. But after a while, Ryan knew he had to get out. After scrubbing himself down, Ryan hesitantly turned off the water, stepping back out of the shower. He stepped up to the mirror and looked at himself properly. He definitely got leaner. And right as he looked at himself in the mirror, his stomach started to grumble again.


    "Oh, come on..." he groaned, looking at the back of his hand, "You hungry little bastard..."


    " ;P ", the symbiote replied, as Ryan quickly started drying himself. With a towel wrapped around his lower body, Ryan quickly stepped out of the bathroom, stopping by the kitchen one more time before heading to his room.


    He tore open one of the large packages of protein bars, quickly grabbing a handful. While tearing away at the plastic wrappers with his teeth, he locked eyes with Liam, who was sitting at the table, drinking what looked to be a chilled bottle of that artificial blood.


    "What?" Ryan asked as he shoved the protein bar into his mouth, and Liam shrugged.


    "Is everyone here in the city like you?"


    A bit confused about what Liam meant, Ryan raised his brow, "I''m not from here, so I''d say not really. But it depends on what you''re talking about. There''s definitely not as many humans as you might be used to."


    Liam quickly shook his head, "No, but... you don''t even care that I''m a vampire."


    "Should I? I''m not going to treat you like the king you want to be, if that''s what you''re saying."


    "First and foremost, I''m just behaving like the king I''m meant to be. But... others are scared of me a lot. It''s annoying," Liam pointed out, looking at the bottle in his hand awkwardly. Seeing his expression, Ryan could tell exactly how Liam was feeling.


    He swallowed the bite of the protein bar in his mouth and then smiled at the young vampire, "I don''t think you need to worry about it that much here in this city. There''s so, so many different people here, I don''t think vampires will really stick out too much," he suggested. Of course, Ryan knew that it wasn''t really as easy as that, but he didn''t want Liam to be too scared to go to his first day of school tomorrow. Plus, it was never bad to be a bit optimistic.


    "Do you really think so?"


    "I do. You''ll be fine, alright?" Ryan said, walking past the table. He ruffled up Liam''s hair, and the boy looked up annoyed, swatting away Ryan''s hand with an annoyed glare.


    "What are you-"


    "That''s more like it. Don''t let anyone push you around tomorrow and act like you always do. Alright?"


    "... Hmph..." Liam tightened his grip on the bottle in his hand, quickly taking another sip, "You''re right! It''s not befitting of a leader to act like a kicked dog!"


    Ryan smiled lightly as he left the kitchen, stuffing more of the protein bar into his mouth. He made his way into his bedroom and pushed the door shut. Holding one of the bars in his mouth, Ryan dropped the rest onto his desk and walked over to his wardrobe. For a moment, he hesitated, thinking back on Kindly yesterday. But since that was ridiculous, he just pulled it open and quickly picked out an outfit.


    Any of them looked way too warm for him right now... he definitely couldn''t walk around how he usually did. But almost all of his clothes were thick and heavy, and none of his trousers were shorter than his shins.


    That was, except for a single outfit. It was perfectly in the back, and could probably use a wash just for having been in there for so long, but he had to make do. Silvia had gifted these to him for his birthday a couple of months ago, and she made them herself. If they let her, half of Ryan and Modak''s wardrobes would be filled with clothes she made for them at this point. But he couldn''t turn down a birthday present.


    Ryan looked at a pair of running shorts and a sleeveless top. She had seen Ryan work out and almost overheat with his sweatshirt jacket and long joggers on a particularly warm spring day. Ryan hadn''t worn them yet, beyond trying them on in his room after he got home that day.


    With a sigh, Ryan dropped the towel and got dressed. It wasn''t like he would really meet anyone he knew today anyway, and he would probably die if he wore what he usually did.


    He awkwardly looked at himself in his mirror and let out a slight sigh. The scars on his shoulders and legs were perfectly on display. He hated it. Though, at the very least, he could show off the symbiote a bit. When they stayed still like this, they really just looked like a red-ink tattoo.


    "Maximus," Ryan said, slowly looking away from the mirror toward the small knight seated in front of the computer monitor, "Let''s go, we''re heading out to find Gaia."

 47 - Yamada Hiero

    From the middle of the backseat, Ryan pointed to the right in front of his face. Yamada quickly turned at the next intersection.


    "We''re getting closer..." Ryan explained, and Runar quickly turned around to him from the passenger seat.


    "Start pointing exactly where it''s pulling you to."


    Ryan quickly nodded, closing his eyes. He focused on that force inside his mind, the ''Light of Guidance'', pointing into the direction that it showed him. Slowly but surely, the direction was changing, and Runar carefully looked down at the old map in his hands.


    "... Alright, I think I know where we need to go," Runar muttered, pushing himself forward to let Yamada see him properly, "Take a right, a left, take the left of the fork after that, and then follow the road until the underpass."


    The devil quickly nodded her head, speeding up a bit now that she didn''t need to focus on Ryan''s instructions directly. She drove quickly and without hesitation, weaving through the cars and pushing through the traffic lights at the last second. Usually you would call this sort of driving ''erratic'', but the control that Yamada had over the car was ridiculous. Ryan thought you could only see this kind of thing in movies.


    "She drives the carriage rather skilfully," Liam pointed out from right next to Ryan, squeezed into the seat behind Yamada''s. Ryan turned to him with a frown.


    "Did you just call this a carriage? I get the whole king thing, but at least call a car a car."


    "... Carriage sounds cooler," the young vampire complained, looking out the window with a clearly bored gaze.


    Not only that, but as Yamada drove further down the route that Runar had described, the faster the direction the Light of Guidance pointed to changed. They were getting close; really, really close. It didn''t take long until they reached the underpass that Runar had pointed out, and Yamada came to a stop here.


    "Is this it?" Runar asked, and Ryan slowly nodded his head. The ''needle'' of the light was pointing right at the building that was hidden under the underpass. Ryan didn''t expect to see this kind of place anywhere in the Channel. It was old and run-down; the windows were barred up like it was abandoned.


    "I... guess so?" hesitantly, Ryan looked at the building. At this point, just moving his head around was noticeably changing the direction he was pointed to. His eyes moved around slightly, pulling Ryan''s sight right into the windows on the third floor of the building, "It''s up there, I think?"


    "Alright. Yamada, drive us to a safe spot nearby," Runar signed, and just then, Ryan''s stomach started rumbling loudly, "... Somewhere with a restaurant, please."


    Ryan looked around outside. This area was quite familiar, it was pretty close to the Awakened Centre, "I actually know a place nearby that''s pretty good... this noodle spot, the owner is an awakened Chef. It''s in the upper area here, if we get up there I can find it again."


    "Oh? That does sound pretty good. Drop us off around the corner, I remember there being a stairway up," Runar explained, and Yamada drove off with a quick nod. And just as Runar said, there seemed to be one of those massive escalators running up to the upper level of the Channel. Ryan, his uncle, and Liam quickly got out of the car, and Runar leaned into the window, quickly signing something to the devil. There were people around, so he didn''t say it out loud, though.


    Yamada nodded and quickly drove off again.


    "Is she finding a parking spot?" Ryan asked, but Runar quickly shook his head.


    "No, she''s accompanying the people for the thing," Runar explained, trying to be vague, and Ryan looked at him with a slight frown.


    "Seriously? But..."


    "What, you think a deaf girl can''t carry her own weight? She''s strong enough to be my aide, Yamada can handle herself," Runar quickly stepped into the building in front of him, followed by an awkward Ryan. He didn''t directly mean it that way, but if he was totally honest, it wasn''t totally wrong either.


    "So... you''re sure they don''t need me to find the fragment?"


    Runar quickly shook his head, "They''ll be fine. If it''s in that building, they will find it. And just because you got through a newborn dungeon doesn''t mean you can play in the big leagues just yet, alright?"


    "... Fine. And I guess we can''t leave him alone," Ryan pointed out, watching as Liam looked around excitedly. Ryan had at least been to larger cities a few times before, but he doubted that was the case for this boy. And even Ryan felt incredibly intimidated, so that feeling must be even greater in Liam. It was the same when they were travelling up the escalators to the upper level; Liam was gleefully looking over the edge of the moving stairway, excited to see what was at the top.


    Before long, they did, and Ryan''s stomach quickly guided the rest of the way. His hunger quickly made him forget what he was wearing, and that some of his scars were on full display. He just really needed to eat something.


    Ryan looked around and tried to find the spot, and then, there it was; the dingy, small, hole-in-the-wall noodle restaurant that didn''t seem to fit into this area whatsoever.


    "... This is it?" Liam asked, almost disappointed to see their destination, "It doesn''t look like the food will be any good."


    "Oh, how would you know?" Ryan scoffed, quickly pushing open the door. Like before, it was fairly empty, and the seats at the counter right in front of the chef were empty. Once the four-armed man saw Ryan, he raised his brows surprised.


    "Spirit Kid! Ryan, was it?"


    "Yup, that''s me! Chantora, right?"


    The chef quickly nodded his head with a smile, "What can I do ya for?"


    "Alright, take the biggest bowl you can, get me the thickest noodles, a bunch of meat, and the oiliest broth you have," Ryan immediately said, and Chantora laughed.


    "Hungry, ey?"


    "You can say that again. He eats like a Wyrm," Runar pointed out, grinning at Ryan, knowing that he couldn''t deny it right now.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Runar waited for Liam to sit down next to Ryan, and then sat down next to Liam, before Chantora raised his brow while glancing toward the man in front of him, "You his pops?"


    With a scoff, Runar shook his head, "No, I''m his uncle. I mean, I''m his, though," he added, ruffling Liam''s hair. The vampire looked up disgruntledly. This was situation as far as the public was concerned; Liam had been adopted by Runar.


    This was done so that he could be the boy''s guardian under any circumstance without any sort of outside interference. Of course, in the system, Liam''s species was marked as ''unknown'' until now until vampires were added to the current ''International Intelligent Species Registry''. It was easy enough for the Aglecard family to make that sort of thing happen, apparently. It still seemed insane to Ryan, but that''s what it was.


    "What do ya two wanna eat?" Chantora asked, and Runar quickly replied.


    "Your recommendation for me. But Liam doesn''t eat."


    The aktorione frowned, "Excuse me?"


    Runar''s eyes widened as he shook his head quickly, "Oh, no, no, it''s not like that. He''s a vampire, he doesn''t eat."


    Ryan immediately froze up, slowly turning his head toward his uncle. Liam seemed similarly confused, and the same could be said ten times over for Chantora. The chef quickly repeated himself, "... Excuse me?"


    "As I said, he''s a vampire. They can''t really digest most things," Runar explained, pushing his hand into the bag that he carried with him, pulling out one of the small opaque bottles filled with artificial blood, "I''ve got something for him here, though, so it''s not like he''ll go hungry."


    "I don''t think that''s a funny joke... vampires ain''t jokin'' matter, ya know?"


    "Well, yeah, of course they''re not. But we decided that it''s better for Liam not to hide himself any more. There''s this company that we got in contact with, they''re working on this artificial blood that vampires can live off."


    Chantora looked at Ryan confused, "Are you... is he serious?"


    Ryan sighed loudly, nodding his head. He definitely didn''t expect Runar to just come out with it like that, but it made sense. This was the whole reason for Liam to even be here in the first place. He would go to school as a vampire. He would make friends as a vampire. Liam would live his life openly. As a vampire. This young kid was the pilot flame for the light that would guide all vampires into the open. It was a lot of pressure to put on a kid, but Ryan knew that the family thought about this well. Or rather, he hoped. He looked back at Chantora, slowly nodding his head.


    "Yeah, he''s serious. Liam''s a vampire," Ryan confirmed, feeling a bit nervous about just saying it like that. He knew that some of the other customers could hear as well.


    "... Well, lookit that," Chantora let out. It was clearly something hard to believe. Rather, the idea that vampires actually existed was somewhat shady in the first place. You heard about incidents like that every once in a while, where a corpse''s blood was drained, so people quickly started talking about that being because of vampires. But you never knew if that was actually a vampire or just some other kind of maniac serial killer.


    Ryan actually wasn''t sure exactly how Runar was planning on convincing others that Liam was a vampire without a shadow of a doubt. Usually you would expect that to be something a kid Liam''s age came up with for fun, especially considering that he already did that whole ''King'' cosplay thing. But he figured there was a plan for that in place already.


    All the whilst this short conversation was going on, even through that almost deafening silence that had spread through the shop, Chantora had never stopped moving his arms to continue cooking. So, soon, both Ryan and Runar had their bowls of noodles in front of them, as Runar gave a bottle of artificial blood to Liam.


    "So..." Chantora finally said, looking back at Ryan, "Did ya end up goin'' to that dungeon?"


    With a smug grin, Ryan quickly nodded, "Yup, even managed to level up a bit."


    "Oh, did ya?" Chantora raised his brow curiously.


    "Yup. Though now, I guess I should focus a bit more on training," Ryan pointed out as he held a spoonful of broth to his mouth to give it a try, his empty stomach almost reaching out to pull the whole bowl into him right away. After giving the broth a try, he held himself back for just a moment from fully digging in, "That reminds me... a chef''s most important stat is dexterity, right?"


    "Dexterity ''n Perception," Chantora nodded.


    "Do you have any tips on training dexterity more effectively?"


    <hr><hr><hr>


    The door''s lock was picked carefully. Despite being an outwardly abandoned building, the lock was in far too good a condition; it had recently been replaced. Once the door was opened, the five cloaked figures in front of Yamada got moving. Stepping into the darkness of the space, their bodies basically melted away. Once she couldn''t see any part of them anymore, Yamada herself stepped into the building.


    She walked down the central hallway of what seemed to be an old block of flats. One after another, the doors beside her opened up, revealing one of the cloaked figures. Each of them was giving Yamada an ''okay'' sign, so they moved on. She climbed up the stairs to the next floor. Usually, the stairs should continue up more, but they were demolished. Maybe there was another set of stairs on the other end of the hallway. As Yamada walked through the hallway, the hair on the back of her neck stood up.


    She stopped walking, pulling back just so slightly as a hail of bullets shot through the old wooden door. She glanced at where exactly the bullets hit the wall on the other side of the door, and then reached into the inner pocket of her jacket. What Yamada pulled out was a black handgun. However, before she even held it out properly, yellow runic patterns appeared on the metal, letting off arching crackles of electricity. Her eyes gave off a similar glow as Yamada aimed the gun at the wall. Or rather, she aimed at what was beyond the wall as a small magic circle appeared in front of the barrel.


    And then, she pulled the trigger. As Yamada felt the recoil travelling through her arm, she watched the remnants of her yellow magic on the untouched wall disappear. The next moment, the vibrations of someone falling to the ground were telling Yamada it was time to get started. She stepped in front of the hole-covered door. Looking through it, she could see three people in Bluesky-brand assault gear, carrying automatic weapons created by the company as well.


    One of those three was already on the ground as Yamada''s bullet passed clean through their head. Seeing their comrade fall down without them even being able to see the shooter, the other two were taken aback and distracted for long enough to let Yamada shoot into the heads of the other two as well.


    They also immediately fell to the ground, without a single mark being left on their helmets. The five cloaked people immediately appeared, two of them standing by Yamada''s side as the other three pulled away the bodies of the gunmen, tying them up and gagging them so they couldn''t make any noise when they woke up later. However, these three weren''t the only people to be weary of in here. The two cloaked figures by Yamada''s side quickly informed her of the sound of people coming down the hallway, so she quickly nodded her head.


    She reached into her jacket''s other inner pocket, pulling out a practically identical handgun to the one she used just now. Magic circles appeared in front of the guns'' barrels, as Yamada pulled the trigger on the left gun first, shooting the one in her right gun just a second later. The first bullet shot through the air through the now open flat door, seeming to slow to a crawl in the middle of the hallway. The bullet was frozen mid-air, as if held in place by that yellow mana.


    And then, the first bullet from the second gun hit it at a slight angle, making the second bullet ricochet off the first. And the third, fourth, and fifth bullets did the same, as did all the others that were shot until Yamada was satisfied. She looked at the figure next to her, and they quickly gave her another ''okay'' sign. With a light smile, Yamada stepped back out into the hallway, catching the stationary bullet as it fell to the ground. Turning to her right, she saw six more gunmen unconscious on the ground. One of them was even carrying a bulletproof riot-shield, but that didn''t really help against Yamada''s bullets.


    She carefully stepped over them as the cloaked figures got to work, tying the rest of the gunmen up to make sure they couldn''t cause any trouble if they woke up before everything was over. And it was just as Yamada had thought; there was another set of stairs here at the end of the hallway, though it clearly hadn''t been here originally. It was just added to make it harder for people to get up the floors.


    Now on the second floor above ground level, Yamada looked around. Her intuition was telling her that there were more people in each of these old flats. With a smile on her face, Yamada took a few more steps forward. Just because she had work to do didn''t mean she couldn''t enjoy herself.

 48 - Berserker

    Dozens of bullets shot through the air, and Yamada counted each of them as they rapidly approached her. She pulled the trigger of her gun, slightly flicking her wrist as she did. As the bullet passed through the magic circle in front of the barrel, a dozen more magic circles appeared in the air in front of the gun, each one of them releasing a copy of the bullet flickering with yellow light. The bullets continued to travel through the air at angles, curving as they intercepted the bullets that had been fired at her.


    The ricocheted projectiles then intercepted others, which reflected off and did the same with even more. As the enemies'' solid bullets were deflected into the walls, some of the bullets made of Yamada''s mana were shot at the four men that were trying to shoot at her. Each one of them was hit in the head, and they quickly collapsed. Rolling her eyes, Yamada continued stepping over the unconscious gunmen that now littered the hallway. One of the cloaked people accompanying her quickly signed to her.


    "All the enemies beside those on the third floor have been fully taken out. We have restrained those that have been taken down. As you asked, we have kept our own attacks to non-lethal levels. However, most defensive power seems to be focused on floor three, and I would not underestimate their power," they explained, and Yamada slowly nodded her head, moving her eyes away from the cloaked figure''s hands.


    She signed at them all to follow her, and then made her way to the stairs at the end of the hall. As soon as she made her way to the top of the stairs, her eyes landed on something. It was a small object; a thick tube with a small trigger at its end. Yamada tried shutting her eyes and pulled her hand in front of them, but the light of the flash-bang reached her before she was able to fully block it. She was stunned for just a moment as she tried to recover her sight, but Yamada''s senses were too strong to just push past this.


    However, no matter how brief, an opponent that was able to time that flash-bang so perfectly of course wouldn''t hesitate. Yamada felt the air brushing past her arms and face, and the scent of too much aftershave entered her nose. She pulled back and made her knees buckle as the sensation of a blade narrowly evading her nose tickled past her. As her body fell backward, she also jumped up and pressed her hands onto the ground while wrapping her legs around the arm of the person that had attacked her.


    It was almost too thick for her to properly wrap around fully, so she just tried to hold on as well as she could. Yamada tried to peek at the attacker, but was only able to see a blurry outline. It was enough to tell her that she was dealing with a giant; a massive individual standing at four metres in height. She had barely reached past their elbow, and probably seemed more pesky than anything.


    The giant was about to try and attack Yamada as she latched onto their arm, so she quickly pressed the barrels of her guns against their elbow, pulling the trigger without hesitation. Different to the pacifying bullets that she shot at the gunmen from downstairs at, these were practically the opposite. They were bullets made to cause pain. And as this pain coursed through the giant''s body, stunning them momentarily, Yamada was able to pull herself up and climb onto their shoulders.


    With quick, fluid movements, she sat on the giant''s shoulders and tightened her legs around their neck, placing the barrels of her gun against the sides of their head. After the pacifying bullets passed through their head, Yamada could feel them buckle and fall to the ground. As they did, she held up their body a bit to hide behind it as she recovered her sight. There were probably others here, and she couldn''t risk being shot at while not being able to see.


    However, Yamada could soon feel the scent of smoke brush past her; the cloaked figures were moving past her and taking care of what they could while Yamada was unable to do so. Just as they had cleared out most of the flats as well as the floors above this one, they should be able to deal with most, if not all remaining, opponents.


    Slowly but surely, Yamada''s sight properly returned to her, and she managed to get a proper look at the man in front of her. He was different to the other grunts that she had faced before. For one, he wasn''t wearing the assault gear. Instead, he was wearing a well-fitting, tailored suit. He clearly stood above the others.


    Yamada got up from behind the unconscious man, looking down the hallway to get a grasp of the situation. This space was a bit different from the other floors; it was a large open room for the most parts, as all the flats had clearly been torn out. Beside the pillars keeping the building up, there was only a single room here, in the dead centre of the space, while numerous grunts were spread out through the space surrounding that walled-off room.


    Four of the five cloaked figures were keeping those grunts busy, quickly taking them down one after another, while another was standing by next to Yamada to keep watch while they recovered. However, seeing that she was fine, the last of the figures quickly got moving as well, joining the fray.


    Now that she was fine, and all of those grunts were distracted, this was a pretty good moment for Yamada. She looked around the room, marking each of the individuals that she would need to hit, holding her handguns forward. As the devil held her breath to steady her aim, she started rapidly pulling the triggers of her guns, skilfully shooting through the heads of all the grunts that she had noticed from here. And without exception, no matter how heavily armoured, and no matter how actively dangerous, they all fell to the ground unconscious. The cloaked figures quickly started tying them up, and Yamada stood up satisfied.


    She swiftly made her way to the door of that single room on this floor. Though it was unclear exactly what kind, there seemed to be a barrier placed onto the entrance, so they wouldn''t be able to just force their way in all that easily. But that wasn''t really an issue; Yamada knew the weakness of those sorts of barriers.


    She walked a few steps to the side, aiming straight at the wall. The magic circle in front of her gun''s barrel increased in size, and as the gunwoman pulled the trigger and the bullet passed through the magic circle, an explosion shot forward that ripped apart the wall itself.


    The weakness of those barriers was simple; they usually only protected the door. The walls were neglected.


    With a smile on her face, Yamada stepped through the newly-created entrance. Without even looking at them, she shot through the heads of the two guards stationed inside the room itself, and then quickly walked up to the person on the other side of the room. It was an older woman, using some kind of enchanting-skill on a green, uneven gemstone. From the description Yamada was given, this was the last of Gaia''s fragments.


    Not hesitating, Yamada reached out to grab the fragment, but the woman in front of her anxiously pressed her hands onto it. It looked like she was saying something, but she had a fabric mask covering her mouth and nose, so Yamada wasn''t able to lip-read. So, instead of resorting to some kind of charades, Yamada held her gun into the face of the woman, hoping that this would be enough to convince her to pull her hands away.


    But... to Yamada''s surprise, that wasn''t the case at all. With pure panic in her eyes, the woman kept the fragment covered. She was scared; absolutely terrified. But not of Yamada. She was scared of what would happen if the fragment was taken from her. And while Yamada was empathetic of that, she was here for a simple reason; to recover the fragment.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    And so, with a simple pull of the trigger, the older woman was painlessly pacified. Yamada even caught her before she hit the ground, so that she wouldn''t injure herself because of the fall, carefully placing her down in a safe position.


    Yamada grabbed the fragment; someone had drawn enchantments onto its surface, seemingly trying to harvest the energy properly. With a slight frown, Yamada looked at the nearest of the five that accompanied her here, quickly signing over to them.


    "Take a scan of the whole-", before she was able to finish, Yamada''s intuition told her to get back, but before she was able to physically react, something came flying through the hole that she created in the wall. It was one of the cloaked figures, unconscious and almost disfigured. Their arms were twisted around, and their bones were broken; blood was gushing out from under the black mask they were wearing. Yamada stared out from beyond the hole, watching as the giant from earlier stepped through. An ugly energy was enveloping him, and the veins on his neck, face, and hands were bulging as though they were about to pop.


    The expression on his face was telling Yamada one thing; this guy had a ''Berserker'' type class, and was in the middle of a ''rage''. Whether it was automatically triggered by being thrown unconscious, or whether it was activated manually after he woke up earlier than expected didn''t really matter. Fact was that he was dangerous, and clearly too much for the cloaked figures to handle. They were skilled, but they were better at infiltration than direct combat. That''s what Yamada was here for.


    The giant was yelling something, but the way he spoke and the way his jaw was clenched made it impossible for Yamada to read his lips. Nor did she really think he had anything productive to say in the first place.


    As the giant came running at Yamada, she jumped up into the air, very easily dodging over the massive figure. Her feet pressed onto the ceiling, and she kicked herself down. On her way back to the ground, Yamada caught the back of the giant''s collar, using her momentum and sheer physical strength to drag him backward. If he had continued that way, he would have crushed that enchanter lady.


    This wasn''t enough to topple the giant over, of course, but it was enough to stop him in his tracks and ensure that he would follow her back out of the room where collateral damage was more... acceptable. There were still a lot of things in that room that they needed to take a look at to figure out what the actual plan was here.


    Clutching the fragment tightly in her hand, Yamada aimed the handgun at the giant berserker.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Chantora looked at the young man in front of him, raising his brow, "So you want to increase your dexterity? Ain''t ''cha a summoner?"


    "Yeah, but one of my base stats is dexterity because of how some of my skills work. I''ve been able to increase my dexterity by a 0.03 already, but I was wondering if you had any tips," Ryan explained, and the chef looked at him surprised.


    "0.03 in yer first couple weeks? That ain''t bad at all, why''d you need my help?"


    "Because 0.03 isn''t good enough," the reply was blunt, but it was the truth. Apparently, with the symbiote''s help, Ryan''s physical stats would increase at a faster rate anyway, but he still had to do whatever he could to improve faster. If there were guys running around that were actively in the process of trying to exploit spirits and make people hate and fear them, then that wasn''t something Ryan would let happen.


    But no matter what was going on, Runar probably wouldn''t let him take on an important role in all this unless he could pull his own weight, just like today. Ryan wanted to be there to rescue Gaia''s last fragment, but all he could do was sit here and wait while stuffing his mouth with noodle soup.


    "What''re you in such a hurry for? Just take it easy. I didn''t do much to help increase my dexterity, just everyday cookin'' work. I was a chef at a large restaurant when I awakened, and just by doing what I did every day, my dexterity started ta go up," Chantora explained simply. That was how most ''Expertise'' classes treated things like stat increases. For the most part, they already spent most of their day doing whatever they awakened for, so they didn''t really have a lot of time to spend specifically on training. They would just start operating at a higher level while working the same amount of hours. They just got more done at a higher quality.


    As he was thinking about what to respond, Ryan noticed his uncle''s gaze. His expression was stinging painfully, and a nervous lump formed in Ryan''s throat. Trying to clear it out, Ryan took the bowl, which only had broth left in it now, and held it to his lips, quickly drinking the rest of the soup left inside.


    Ryan pulled the large bowl away from his mouth, letting out a loud, satisfied breath. As he wiped his mouth with the napkin next to him, he looked at the chef, "I just need to increase my dexterity somehow. My hobby is model-building, and I can''t afford to keep buying dozens of new ones, no matter how much I want to."


    Hesitantly, Chantora cupped his chin with one of his hands, "My dexterity always improved the most when I''ve had the chance to do somethin'' new."


    "Something new, huh..?" Ryan muttered, before an idea popped into his mind, "Do you need a part-timer here?"


    Chantora scoffed, shaking his head immediately, "No, thanks. Nothin'' against you, but I do very well on my own," he replied, and Ryan let out a slight sigh, before the aktorione suggested something else, "But what I could do is give ya some recipes to try out. Might not hurt anyway if yer as big an eater as ya seem to be."


    "... I guess that would probably work. What do you think?" Ryan asked, looking over at his uncle.


    Runar thought about it for a second, "It''s not a bad idea, at least. There''s plenty of stuff you can do to increase your dexterity. Cooking should be a pretty good one for you right now."


    While Runar was saying so, Chantora was sorting through a few things under the counter, looking for something. He quickly made his way to the small room in the back, and a moment later came back out holding a small booklet, holding it over to Ryan with a smile, "Here ya go, I''ve got some of my favourites in here. Some should be above your skill level, but just do what ya think you might be able to. See it as a thanks for that big tip last time."


    "Are you sure? Don''t you need that?" Runar asked, a bit concerned about Ryan taking away something that sounded as precious as a recipe book written by this man himself. But Chantora quickly shook his head.


    "I ain''t been in need of physical recipes in a decade."


    "Oh! Do you have the ''Cookbook'' skill?" Ryan asked curiously, and Chantora looked back surprised.


    "That''s the one... ya know your stuff, huh?"


    "I guess so," feeling a bit awkward to have it pointed out, Ryan started flipping through the handwritten recipes in the book, "So why do you have this then? If you don''t need physical recipes?"


    "Hm? Oh, I made that for a friend, but he didn''t end up needing it," Chantora briefly replied, clearly wanting to move on from that topic. He took Ryan''s bowl from him, though Runar was still in the middle of eating. Ryan had eaten pretty fast, "If ye''re struggling, come by and feel free ta ask for some tips. Though... I''ve been thinkin'' about movin'' somewhere else. This part of town ain''t really sitting right with me."


    "Really? How so?" Runar asked curiously.


    "Well, you can see how my restaurant looks in this place. I got a good deal on it when I bought it, but it''s too much stress dealin'' with pompous, stuck-up people all day, every day. All they come here for is to ''experience the food of the lower class'', and it pisses me off," Chantora explained bluntly, and Runar couldn''t help himself but laugh a bit.


    "Yeah, I can see how that''d happen here," Runar said, grabbing his wallet. He pulled out a business-card for Caf¨¦ Runic, handing it to him, "I own a caf¨¦ in Oldtown, I can introduce you to some people if you want to settle over there."


    Chantora smiled as he grabbed the business card, "Thanks. I''ll give ya a holler after I think it through a bit. But for now-"


    The chef''s sentence was soon interrupted by the deafening sound of what seemed to be some kind of explosion. Looking outside, a large cloud of dust poured out into the street. With a bad feeling creeping up on them, Runar and Ryan rushed outside. They looked out of the alley that the restaurant was in, noticing a massive shadow cast on the buildings. Though they clearly hoped it to be something unrelated, before they knew it, the figure of Yamada was thrown through the air, shooting at the source of that shadow.

 49 - Berserker (2)

    As the dust settled and the initial shock was gone, the sound of the battle was drowned out by the panic of the people around. People flooded away as fast as they could, and it didn''t take long before the emergency sirens went off either.


    "Warning! Warning! A rampaging Villain has been spotted in the vicinity! Evacuate Immediately!" the sound blasted into Ryan''s ears, only adding onto the already noisy environment. He didn''t know what was going on, but that was Yamada just now, right? What was happening?


    However, Ryan didn''t have to wait long to have that questioned answered. From around the corner, a living mountain pushed itself forward, digging its hands into the corners of the nearby buildings for support.


    Whatever that was, there was no way it was a person... right? But it definitely felt like one, despite how it looked. Stone covered its whole body, and the only thing hinting at a person was half the face that was still uncovered. Bulging veins that looked like metal pipes climbing up a building covered the dozen-metre tall being. This felt far too familiar, and Ryan''s suspicion was quickly supported by the thin green strands that floated off that thing''s body, like spider threads on a windy day.


    But while that was the case... the Light of Guidance wasn''t pointing Ryan at that rampaging titan, but rather at Yamada, who was recovering in the middle of the road, "Yamada got the fragment, so I-"


    Runar interrupted his nephew instantly, "No! Leave, now! Take Liam and get as far away as you can!"


    "But I-"


    "Ryan."


    As the two locked eyes for a moment, frustration flooded into Ryan''s body. All these people running away, scared for their lives. He never wanted to get into heroics, but he couldn''t just stand here and do nothing, right? But... how the hell was Ryan supposed to fight something like that? He didn''t even awaken a physical class, or one actually meant for combat at all. Sure, Maximus was with him, but that didn''t mean anything either. Maximus wasn''t strong enough to take something like... something like that.


    "Go, and take Liam. I''ll try to send the fragment to you, but just get out of here for now. Yamada and I can take care of this," Runar assured. As the rune mage turned and ran toward the commotion, Ryan turned back to the restaurant that had already been mostly abandoned, his teeth grinding against each other. There were only two people left in there. Liam, who was hiding under the counter, his head between his legs, and Chantora who was trying to get him out so they could all get to safety.


    The bottle of artificial blood was spilled on the ground next to Liam, seeping into his clothes. Ryan squatted down next to him, grabbing the boy''s arm, "Get up! We need to go!"


    Liam was shaking. He was just trying to keep his hands pressed against his ears, "I-I can''t, I... don''t make me go... Please, please don''t..."


    The knot in Ryan''s throat returned, but he had to push through it, "If we don''t go, we can get hurt. Really, really hurt."


    Liam glanced up at Ryan, his eyes filled with tears. He wanted to talk, but couldn''t get any words out. With a slight sigh, Ryan pushed his hands under the boy''s legs and tightly held onto his shoulders, "You''re a king, aren''t you? Then act like it, and listen to this knight of yours!"


    Ryan jumped up, surprised at just how light Liam was. Sure, he was just a kid, but this was ridiculous. He was just so... thin, "Hold onto me, we don''t have the leisure of comfort right now. Chantora, are you-"


    "Just get movin'' and don''t worry about me! I can handle myself, just get out of here!" the chef exclaimed, practically pushing Ryan and Liam out of the restaurant. Without a moment''s hesitation, Ryan did as told and rushed outside. Most people were gone from the streets by now. Ryan had to get down to the street-level somehow, being up here wasn''t safe at all. If that titan and Yamada were up here, they probably left quite a lot of destruction in their path. So the stairway they took earlier was out of question.


    Ryan pushed himself forward, as Liam''s thin arms wrapped around his neck to support himself. He turned around the corner, running into a nearby alley. He remembered there being another stairway in this direction. But right as he entered the alley, the foot of the titan pressed down on the other side; the ground shook like this was an earthquake.


    "R-Ryan, I-"


    "It''s fine, I got you," Ryan reassured Liam, smiling down at him. His legs felt like giving out right now too, but he couldn''t let that happen. He turned around and continued running, "Just close your eyes and don''t focus on what''s happening."


    Liam nervously closed his eyes, pressing his head against Ryan''s chest, "I... I''m scared..."


    "That''s fine. It''s normal to be scared in a situation like this," Ryan turned around the corner, "Just listen to my voice, we''re almost out of here."


    There were people running into a building, so that was probably either the way down or some kind of shelter. But while those people were running in, there were others running out; people carrying guns wearing assault gear.


    Were those people called here to fight against that rampaging titan? Or... were they on that titan''s side? Ryan knew that Bluesky practically had a private army, and they each carried weapons enhanced through skills, and many of them were awakened gunmen in the first place. But that didn''t matter right now. He had to trust that Runar and Yamada could handle themselves.


    "Are you excited for school tomorrow?" Ryan asked, trying to keep his breathing calm as he continued running. Liam almost flinched at the question, clearly not expecting it.


    "Wha-What? School?"


    "Yeah, are you excited? You remember Modak, right? I''m pretty sure his brothers go to the same school," he explained, and Liam quietly answered.


    "That was the... the orc, right?" he asked.


    "That''s the one. His brothers are a bit of a handful, but they''re good kids. I''m sure you''ll get along with them," as Ryan explained, he ran up to a bench and climbed on top of it, using it to jump over the barricade between the footpaths and the road. Even up here there were cars sometimes, but they seemed to mostly be small delivery vehicles. Just like the one that was currently being thrown through the air, right into the direction of the building Ryan was running to. He stopped and pulled back, turning around to cover Liam from any debris that might be flung around.


    The young boy buried his fingers in Ryan''s shirt, "And... and what if they don''t like me?"


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Surprised by the question, Ryan didn''t immediately know what to say. Sure, he figured that Liam was a bit insecure behind all that ''King'' stuff he protected himself with, but revealing how he felt now of all times wasn''t really what he thought would happen.


    Slowly, Ryan stood back up, "Then they don''t like you. That''s fine. There''s plenty of people that don''t like me, either. But I''ve got a couple of really amazing friends to make up for that. You''ll find people like that too, alright?"


    Liam carefully nodded as they got closer to the building. They weren''t that far away, when the ground in front of the two cracked open. Ryan could barely pull away as a large chunk of the ground, directly between himself and the entrance to the building, fell down to the ground, soon landing on the rooftop of a small building below the overhanging platform.


    Even then, there wasn''t much time for Ryan to even process what was happening, only able to pull Liam closer to his body in case they fell, as a small blob of green appeared in the corner of his eye.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Runar jumped up into the air, clearing the punch from the oversized giant that was attacking them. He glanced over to Yamada.


    "Giant Berserker + Fragment Experiment," she quickly filled Runar in, briefly holding one of her guns with her teeth so that she could sign. One of her eyes was shut because of blood that was flowing from her forehead, so she was already in a rough situation. Runar quickly nodded his head, flicking his wrist with his pen in his hand. He drew something into the air, and then continued running. As he did, Runar quickly wrote something onto his underarm as another strike from the giant came at him.


    Runar stopped moving, waiting for the right moment. The mellow green droplets spread over the skin of his arm as he swung it to the side. A pillar of rock shot up diagonally, pushing away the giant''s arm rapidly. The sudden jolt against the weighted-down arm made giant topple over, dropping onto his knees. Runar twisted his arm around, making another pillar of stone shoot right into the giant''s face, throwing him backward quite a bit.


    As Yamada came over to him, Runar drew another rune into the air, leaving it there for the time being. When the devil reached him, Runar quickly wiped the blood away from above her eye, writing a few runes onto her skin to stop the bleeding for a while.


    After pulling back, Runar signed to her, "Do you have the fragment?"


    Yamada quickly nodded, pulling it out of her pocket before pressing the small green stone into the man''s hand.


    "Keep him busy, I''ll send this to Ryan so we can concentrate on taking him-" Runar started, but he didn''t even need to finish before Yamada ran off back toward the giant. She began to shoot at him without hesitation. Each shot seemed to take a brief moment to ''charge up'', but once the bullet hit, and they did without fail, large chunks of rock were torn off from the giant''s body.


    Meanwhile, Runar looked at the fragment, unable to stop himself from clicking his tongue, "Shabby workmanship," he grumbled, trying to erase the enchantments on the surface of the gemstone as he placed it down on the ground. After wiping some of the debris away, Runar quickly drew a magic circle around the fragment, as he turned to the side. During the battle between Yamada and the giant, one of those small delivery cars driving up around here was kicked toward Runar.


    Rolling his eyes, Runar held his hand outward, blocking the empty car. Though, part of the metal was so dented that it was flung off, hitting the magic circle that Runar had been drawing, "Fucking-"


    Annoyed, Runar got up. He held the pen between his lips, pushing his fingers into the metal of the car. With a loud groan, he heaved it above his head, returning it to the giant. Grabbing the pen again, Runar muttered to himself, "Berserkers... always messing up my work."


    As he squatted back down to continue, Runar noticed from the corner of his eye that the giant had deflected the car, and it was currently being thrown over some of the smaller nearby buildings. Figuring, or rather, hoping, that it wouldn''t hit anyone, Runar quickly continued drawing the magic circle. Before long, it was finished and Runar activated it; the droplets of Runar''s mana gathered around Gaia''s fragment, before taking on the form of a small fish. With the fragment floating in its centre, that fish speedily swam away right toward Ryan.


    Now that he could concentrate on the battle itself, Runar pulled up his pant legs, drawing a few runes onto his skin, but as he got back up, the giant had its arms raised up above his body. At first Runar wondered if he was trying to surrender, but from that completely maddened look in his eyes, that wasn''t the case. The giant slammed his arms down onto the ground. Though extremely thick and built using the surrounding buildings as support, most of this area was an elevated platform above the busy streets of the Channel.


    And as the giant slammed his hands into the ground, massive cracks formed that immediately spread far beyond just this street. Panic set in as Runar watched parts of the platform sink down. This part in particular was above one of the Channel''s main roads. Without hesitation, Runar leapt to the closest platform that was in danger of sinking down, drawing a simple pattern onto it. Luckily this spell didn''t require a ton of complicated runes, since it had been fine-tuned specifically for situations like this. The moment the pattern was activated, the platform stopped sinking down, levitating in place. But this wasn''t the only part of the platforms that was in danger of falling. He wouldn''t be able to do anything about small debris, but it looks like the people below had been warned to evacuate as well, so hopefully nothing too bad should happen.


    Having already sunken below the platform, Runar activated the spell he just placed onto his legs, jumping forward. The moment he pressed his foot onto the underside of the platform, he began to stick to it and was able to run upside down to get closer to the other large pieces falling down. After dodging past the platform''s support beams, Runar kicked off and jumped to the next piece. He drew the same pattern as before, activated it, and jumped to the next. Like this, Runar jumped from piece to piece, trying to stop as many of them as he could that could potentially injure someone. In the end, he was able to stop most of the ones that seemed like they were in imminent danger of dropping near where people were running away, though the last of them stopped just a few metres above the street.


    The pieces of the platform would now start slowly sinking down to the street level, and once in a solid position, the spell would deactivate. But until then, Runar could use them to get back up. He kicked off the piece that he was on right now, jumping back up to the next and then the next. When they were too far away from each other, Runar ran on the side of the closest building for a while, before finally making his way back up.


    Before long, Runar made his way back up to the fractured platforms, where Yamada was still whittling down at the giant. It seemed like her pacifying bullets weren''t able to take him down, so Runar had to take over. He glanced around; the runes that he had drawn into the air were still levitating in space. Perfect.


    Since Yamada seemed like she was able to keep the giant busy, Runar kept jumping around, drawing different runes into the air, practically using them to draw a circle around the large giant. Once he was done, Runar and Yamada locked eyes for a moment, and she quickly nodded. Runar grabbed a piece of debris on the ground and threw it at Yamada, who was jumping through the air trying to avoid the holes now all over of the platform. She kicked off the piece of debris, pushing herself out of the confines of the large circles of runes. Once only the giant was left within, Runar held his hand forward.


    He started to speak in a slow, clean, and deliberate manner. The words were clear, but to anyone else would sound like gibberish, as the runes whose sounds had been lost to most over the centuries were vocalized. As he did, not only his eyes were letting off the characteristic glow of mana-usage, but his mouth was filled with that similar green light. Runes that were engraved onto his tongue, but were hidden most of the time, were glowing as he spoke, strengthening his spell.


    The runes that Runar placed into the air were glowing as well, as green droplets started spreading out from them, placing themselves into a regular pattern in a dome around the giant, with the runes as the perimeter. Once they were all in place, the runes thinned out into sheet, connecting to each other and forming a barrier around the giant.


    Carefully, Runar took a step forward, and as if the barrier was fleeing from him, it grew smaller and smaller. The giant didn''t even know what was happening until the barrier touched his head, slowly but surely pressing him down. Completely enraged, the giant tried to strike at the barrier closing in on him, but no matter what he did, it would only grow closer, until he wasn''t even able to stand any more.


    Before long, he was forced onto his knees, when the barrier began to contort to his silhouette, practically trapping him in the position he was currently in.


    Runar scoffed, finally looking into the fury-filled eyes of the stone-covered, enlarged man, "See? You know how to stay still after all."

 50 - Spirit Armament

    The ground shook as Ryan carried the terrified Liam. A massive crack had formed between them and the closest exit, and it didn''t seem to be the only one. All over the place, cracks were spreading out and large chunks of the ground were falling down to the roads or buildings below.


    The part that Ryan was standing on specifically didn''t seem all too unstable, but he also didn''t have a lot of time to figure the situation out all too much before something entered his peripheral vision. It was a koi fish made of soft green light and droplets floating around it, swimming through the air directly toward Ryan. The Light of Guidance in his mind was pulling him straight toward it, and the pull grew stronger and stronger.


    Before long, the fish stopped in front of Ryan, slowly dissolving. The only part it left behind was the small gemstone in its centre. And he didn''t have to hesitate at all either; before the last of Gaia''s fragments could drop down whatsoever, Ryan instinctively pulled it into the spirit''s domain, and some system messages appeared in front of his eyes.


    <hr>


    [You have found the last Fragment of Gaia]


    [The Light of Guidance has found its target and disappears]


    <hr>


    Ryan''s heart almost skipped a beat as the last of the three fragments appeared in Gaia''s domain. The three pieces were almost excitedly floating around each other, though they still weren''t combining. He would have to try and figure that out later, but for now, he was just happy to have found all of her.


    But that didn''t solve the situation that he found himself in right now either. Rather, it caused a whole other problem. Ryan glanced at the direction that the koi fish had come from, and a number of those armed men were standing there, clearly looking into his direction.


    "Fuck..." he muttered quietly. Of course, a glowing, magical fish just swam toward Ryan, and considering the situation that was incredibly suspicious. So if they were just here to deal with the villain, they might move on after seeing that Ryan was just a guy carrying a scared kid to safety. Though, that hope quickly disappeared from Ryan as he saw the ones in the front aim their guns at him.


    The hairs on the back of Ryan''s neck stood up as his instincts were just absolutely screaming at him to get away. And he didn''t hesitate to do so for even a moment. Ryan turned around and started to run away, when he heard a loud sound echoing around the buildings. He felt a sharp pain in his leg, and didn''t even have to look down to see what was going on. The pain coursed through his body as blood filled his shoe.


    Liam flinched in Ryan''s arms, feeling him recoil from the pain, but Ryan just smiled down at him and laughed a bit, "What, a bit of noise is enough to scare you? You won''t like living with Runar then... he tends to sing in the shower."


    Confused about what Ryan was saying, Liam glanced back up at him, "H-Huh?"


    "Yeah, and he''s probably the worst singer I''ve ever heard. Can''t even hit a single note properly," he pointed out, shaking his head disappointedly as he continued to run, even if he was limping. Ryan tried to hide it as much as he could, but that only went so far. Before he knew it, Maximus had jumped out of his domain, and a second gunshot sounded through the air. But instead of feeling a sharp pain, Ryan heard the sound of the bullet hitting metal, and a message appeared in front of Ryan.


    <hr>


    [Knight Spirit Maximus'' -Right Arm- has been damaged and cannot be used until repaired]


    <hr>


    Ryan widened his eyes as he felt the shattered, broken pieces enter his domain again. The arm was fully torn apart due to the impact of the bullet. These parts were in the same space that Maximus'' second arm was; right now, he was using the complete ''Guardian'' model, and the ''Crusader'' model''s arm was stored at the edge of the domain where Ryan could pull it out whenever he needed to. That''s where these broken pieces also went, barely trying to hold the shape of an arm, "Maximus! What the hell are you-"


    Ryan could feel something pull at his mind. He knew what that meant, and Ryan activated the connection between himself and the knight. As the Spirit Link formed, Ryan''s arm almost went numb, but it was just the feeling of a ''missing arm'' overlapping with his ''existing arm''. But there was no pain or anything of the sort. The only thing that flowed into Ryan''s mind was a very vague feeling of confidence.


    "... Fine, I''ll trust you. Just... don''t die..." Ryan told him, and could quickly see Maximus glancing over at the car. It was on this side of the crack, and should be able to act as decent enough cover. Ryan quickly ran over toward it. More gunshots sounded out, and for a moment, an uncomfortable sensation coursed through Ryan''s leg. It wasn''t painful, but he could still feel what was happening. As if a cannonball tore through his leg.


    <hr>


    [Knight Spirit Maximus'' -Left Leg- has been damaged and cannot be used until repaired]


    <hr>


    As the leg appeared within Maximus'' domain as well, he could feel Maximus simply start to hop after deflecting a second bullet. Despite now only having one leg to work with, he still moved in an agile way, keeping up with Ryan''s slowed movements. He soon reached the car and squatted down behind it, carefully placing Liam down.


    "Close your eyes," Ryan said immediately, but Liam shook his head.


    "No! I can-"


    "Liam, please, just close your eyes," trying not to let the pain make him raise his voice, Ryan looked at the boy and pleaded. Clearly frustrated, Liam nodded his head, pressing his eyes shut as more gunshots sounded out. Of course, Ryan was still an extra barrier between Liam and the shooters in addition to the car. The kid''s safety came first.


    Ryan looked down at his leg, seeing most of his shin and calf covered in a thick, deep red. The bullet seemed to have gone clean through his leg at least, but he was bleeding a lot. With a groan, Ryan pulled off his shirt and tied it around the wound as tightly as he could, trying to at least slow down the bleeding. He would have to apologize to Silvia later for ruining the shirt she made him.


    As he tied it around his leg, Ryan noticed the symbiote freaking out on the back of his hand.


    " % & ! ! ? ;; "


    Just the random symbols that seemed to come from some kind of fear or pain that they were experiencing together with Ryan already made his stomach drop. Holding the hand to his mouth, Ryan whispered, "Sorry... you''ve been with me for a day, and we''re already going through this."


    " ... :) "


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ryan laughed lightly. The gunshots had stopped, but instead footsteps were approaching closer and closer. They would reach this place soon. With another whisper, Ryan spoke to the symbiote again, "If things go sour, we should at least get you a name, right..?"


    The symbols on the back of Ryan''s hand seemed to change hesitantly into three simple dots. Ryan tried to think of something good, though for some reason, something came to his mind. It was a story that was pretty fresh in his mind. After Modak brought it up the other day, he had looked the story up again; the 100 Tales of Shazir.


    He travelled the world in search of treasures and ruins, meeting new people and battling powerful monsters. And during one of his journeys, he met a number of fantastical beings, including Sprites, that guided him toward his destination. A small red jewel imbued with powerful magics. And the name of that gemstone rang through Ryan''s head. The name of the jewel of creation.


    "Tiar... How does that sound?"


    After a few moments of what seemed like hesitation, a symbol appeared on the back of Ryan''s hand.


    " :D "


    <hr>


    [The Ruby Symbiote has accepted the name -Tiar-]


    [Tiar''s synchronization with the system is growing. A connection is being formed]


    [Connection - 0%]


    [Connection - 3%]


    [Connection - 7%]


    <hr>


    Ryan was confused as he saw the messages, but that didn''t really matter right now. Tiar, who seemed excited just a few moments earlier, immediately fell into a slumber. Like when they were asleep, a spiral had appeared on the back of Ryan''s hand instead, and the tattoo-like red patterns on Ryan''s arm were waving back and forth along with his heartbeat.


    Ryan pulled Liam closer as the footsteps closed in. Those were about half a dozen guys with full assault gear and guns; Ryan was lucky that only one of them shot at him. Maybe they didn''t really want to kill him, and just wanted to slow him down somehow. Or maybe they were just playing with Ryan before taking him down to take the fragments back. But who knew what would happen when they actually stood over Ryan, staring down at him? He certainly didn''t want to figure it out.


    The footsteps grew louder and closer. Ryan closed his eyes, covering Liam''s head with his hands, as Maximus got ready to attack the men as they closed in. Somehow, Ryan felt surprisingly calm right now.


    As Ryan''s eye peeked open, he swore he could already see tip of a rifle''s barrel, but it quickly moved away as another sound filled the area. A loud voice coming from between two of the buildings.


    "Oi, ya fuckers! The hell d''ya think ye''re doing?!" the voice of a kind chef that Ryan had only heard a few minutes earlier was now filled with absolute rage, "Get away from those kids!"


    <hr>


    [Connection - 56%]


    <hr>


    Ryan heard Chantora yell at the gunmen, and fear immediately flowed through him. Especially as he heard the men speak to each other.


    "What do we do?" one of them seemingly asked this group''s leader, who said some words that Ryan really didn''t want to hear.


    "If we were to encounter him, we were told to keep the Spirit Keeper alive. If necessary, dispatch everyone that gets in the way."


    <hr>


    [Connection - 71%]


    <hr>


    Liam flinched in Ryan''s arms, also having heard the men speak. The sound of the gunmen readying their weapons soon sounded out, before the leader spoke.


    "Immediately evacuate the area!" he yelled out to Chantora, but the chef immediately denied.


    "I saw ya lot shoot at them! You fuckin'' maniacs!"


    The leader seemed to be very quickly annoyed. The others beside him readied their guns, clearly not hesitating to shoot at Chantora in the slightest. Ryan didn''t know what was going on, but he couldn''t let that happen. He couldn''t let anyone die, he couldn''t-


    <hr>


    [Connection - 99%]


    [Connection - 100%]


    [Tiar has completely synchronized with the -Spirit Keeper- Class]


    [A special combination skill has been unlocked]


    [You have learned the -Spirit Armament- Skill]


    <hr>


    Ryan''s eyes widened as a new sensation entered his mind. His arm moved almost on his own and pressed onto the metal of the car he was hiding behind. The red lines that appeared on Ryan''s arm after he bonded with Tiar expanded onto the metal, tearing it apart and pulling it directly onto his right arm''s skin. Piece by piece, bit by bit, the car''s old and almost rusted metal took on a familiar shape. Not too long ago, he had put this together himself.


    It was bulky and heavy, but completely enveloped Ryan''s hand. Even the gloves and the roots wrapping around it all were made from the car''s metal. Ryan''s arm was covered in Maximus'' armour; the Crusader Model that had been intact within the domain. Now it wasn''t there any more; Ryan was wearing it. Even Maximus seemed confused by what was happening, as he clearly hadn''t seen this kind of thing before.


    However, Ryan didn''t feel any stronger, so he didn''t receive the stats the same way that Maximus did. But that was fine, he didn''t need to. His arm was covered in a massive gauntlet. Solid and sharp metal covered his hands, moving like a proper glove would. It wasn''t uncomfortable, as if this piece of armour was made for him to begin with. Ryan carefully let go of Liam as the adrenaline took over. For a little while, he couldn''t even feel the pain of the bullet wound on his leg. Ryan jumped up from behind the car, swinging his massive metal-covered arm at the closest gunman, who was aiming at Chantora, ready to shoot.


    An attack that usually would have only injured Ryan''s hand was enough to throw the gunman into the others beside him with the weight of the armour that Ryan could swing around like it was just his normal arm. The gunmen were startled, but Ryan wouldn''t just give them the opportunity to react.


    He glared at the leader of the group and pushed his arm toward him. A simple strike shattered the visor of the helmet the leader was wearing, and Ryan quickly closed the distance and threw a second punch, putting all his weight behind it. The helmet was thrown off the man''s face, and Ryan immediately wrapped the metal hand around his neck.


    The other gunmen had realized what was going on by now and aimed their guns at Ryan, "Don''t you fucking dare. Throw those away, or I tear out his throat!"


    Ryan glanced over his shoulder at the gunmen, and while he could see them hesitate, they still continued aiming at him.


    "We know you won''t, the Aglecards have always acted with non-lethal methods," one of them replied, "Stop bluffing and put him down!"


    With a loud laugh, Ryan just tightened his grip, "Are you guys fucking blind? Do I look like I''d give a shit about what the Aglecards have always acted like?!"


    Ryan''s back tensed up as he could practically feel the gazes of the gunmen stare at him. His shirt was wrapped around his leg, so his upper body was completely exposed now. The myriad of scars of indiscernible sources certainly painted a different picture. Of course, these didn''t come from any rough battles or really showed how dangerous Ryan was. But who would expect that they were scars he got from his disgusting, abusive stepfather who had nothing better to do than torture a little kid for fun?


    One of the gunmen slowly raised his hand toward the others, "... Stand down. Do what he says."


    The second-in-command seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders, at least. Though in the first place, they weren''t supposed to kill Ryan. If that weren''t the case, maybe they wouldn''t be quite as cooperative.


    Ryan barked at them, "Throw the guns away! Onto the other side of the gap!"


    Seeing them hesitate again, Ryan slightly tightened his grip. If he kept going, he really would end up killing this guy. He seemed to already struggle to breathe as blood poured down his throat due to the sharp edges of metal Ryan was pressing against his skin.


    Slowly, the gunmen did as told. The four of them tossed their weapons onto the other side of the gap after securing them. The last of them, the second-in-command, was about to do the same, when he slightly turned his head.


    "So? Get to it!" Ryan yelled. Once all their guns were gone, he should be able to deal with them somehow, even with his leg in the state it was. None of them seemed to be Awakened, so they couldn''t be that strong, "I told you to fucking-"


    Ryan''s sentence was interrupted by a gunshot. The second-in-command had raised up his gun and shot through the back of the former leader''s head. As the bullet passed clean through it and flew by the side of Ryan''s head, his face was covered in splatters of blood and brains while shards of bone cut narrowly into his cheek.


    The man''s body went limp as Ryan instinctively let go of the man, feeling himself grow ill as the smell of blood became overwhelming. His hand was shaking, as he looked back up, staring right into the barrel of the rifle.


    "Wh-Why did you-"


    The second-in-command, now the new leader of the group, tightened his grip on the gun, "You must have heard what he said earlier. We''re supposed to dispatch everyone that gets in the way."

 51 - The Visit

    Staring into the barrel of the gun, Ryan''s body froze up. Blood was flowing down his cheek and bits of brain stuck to his chest.


    "Lay down on the ground, and deactivate that skill," the man in front of Ryan said, his finger teasing the trigger. But somehow, despite all of this, Ryan couldn''t do anything but laugh.


    "Seriously? So you all are the bad guys," Ryan wiped his face with his left hand as he turned around, "How about you go fu-"


    Unwilling to play around, the gunman pulled the trigger for just a quick moment, shooting a bullet through Ryan''s torso. It came back out just by his hip. Ryan didn''t know if anything important was hit with that, but it definitely hurt like hell. Ryan looked across the large cracks all over the ground, looking at Chantora. The two locked eyes for a moment, or at least Ryan thought so. It was hard to tell from here.


    The chef was staring at Ryan anxiously, who used the blood gushing from the bullet wound to write an ''R'' onto his belly, and then pointed into the direction where the fight with that titan had to be going on. It seemed that Chantora understood, standing up and sprinting away into the direction that Ryan pointed, as Ryan himself quickly covered the letter up with a bit more blood.


    Tiar''s patterns wriggled nervously on his arm, and the gunman groaned, "I told you to get on the ground."


    "Or... or what? You''re gonna kill me?" Ryan asked, trying to laugh through the pain. He felt like vomiting, but he could manage somehow. He walked over to one of the cracks that had formed nearby. Looking down from here, it went all the way to street-level, though at least there weren''t any cars down there. It was just some kind of alley. Ryan carefully crept toward the edge, trying to push down on the bullet wound that was gushing blood.


    Once he got there, Ryan turned around with his heels already over the edge, "If you had to get rid of someone just because he made catching me a bit harder for you, I wonder what''s going to happen when I''m dead."


    Ryan could feel it through the link with Maximus. The knight was panicking, trying to come up with any way to stop what was happening here. But he had lost an arm and a leg, and could barely stay upright anymore. Not to mention, he had promised to protect Liam with the little power that he could still use.


    "You''re not done bluffing yet? Get away from the edge and do what we tell you, and you might get out of this whole ordeal with at least your body somewhat intact," the gunman said, and once again, Ryan couldn''t help himself but laugh.


    "Yeah, sure, whatever. Right now, just answer my questions, and then I might think about going with you," he lied, but it didn''t really matter whether it was an obvious lie or not. Right now, the gunman couldn''t do anything. Frankly, the gunman must have thought that the bullet just now would have been enough to bring Ryan to his knees so they could capture him. But he couldn''t risk it again now. If he shot Ryan, he would end up falling down into that crack, and from this height, he would most certainly die. Not to mention, the wound on Ryan''s leg and the incessant bleeding coming from two bullet wounds was already making him unsteady on his legs.


    "We aren''t here to play games. Just come with us," the gunman sighed, as the other men, who didn''t have their weapons anymore, pulled up Liam from behind the car, "If you do, we''ll leave the kid alone."


    Ryan ground his teeth, staring at those guys violently holding onto a kid''s arms and shoulders, "Are you fucking psychos? You want to kill a kid just to get me to come with you?"


    The gunman glanced over at Liam and then back at Ryan, "We certainly don''t want to do it."


    "Could you be any more clich¨¦ than this? Fuck, I thought you''d at least have a bit more nuance to you," Ryan scoffed, though his voice sounded more like a rough bark than a laugh. His whole body was tensing up at the complete anger that he was feeling. Even the pain that he should be feeling was nothing compared to the rage running through his veins.


    The gunman held the barrel of his rifle toward Liam, but Ryan immediately yelled out, "Stop! Stop it, you absolute - Fine, just... Just leave him alone."


    "Giving up pretty quick despite all that big talk, huh?" the gunman stared at the chunks of metal stuck to Ryan''s arm, "Deactivate the skill."


    Ryan slowly nodded, taking a step away from the ledge. Some chunks of metal slowly fell from his hand, and the gunman started to approach closer, keeping his rifle aimed at Ryan the whole time. And then, without warning, the sound of a gun being shot sounded out. From the corner of his eye, Ryan could see a yellow streak for just an instant, as the person holding Liam fell to the ground. Just another moment later, the other three unarmed men fell to the ground, and the gunman glanced away confused. That was the perfect moment.


    Ryan took the opportunity and almost jumped forward, pushing his right hand out to the rifle. Until then, only that hand had become uncovered from the armour, but now, the metal making up the rifle''s body was being torn apart and bent into shape to wrap around Ryan''s fingers.


    The gunman let go of the weapon, seemingly trying to grab the knife at his hip, but Ryan was faster. He swung his metal-covered fist into the gunman''s stomach. Due to the assault gear, it probably didn''t do massive damage, but it was enough to keep him stunned for a moment. It was enough for Ryan to get in another strike, and another. The gunman''s visor was thrown off, and Ryan glared into the eyes of the man with half his face covered in thick burn scars.


    "Just leave me the fuck alone," Ryan placed a single punch right into the centre of the man''s face. Of course, using his left hand, not his right. Striking him with a fist made completely of metal could lead to a bit more damage than Ryan was willing to do.


    At that point, Yamada and Runar had also properly caught up. It really only took them a few seconds to cross the whole space, jumping over those gaps as if they were nothing.


    "Ryan, are you... are you okay? What''s with your arm? You-" Runar held onto his nephew''s shoulders, seeing him covered in blood from head to toe. Glancing down, he saw the dead body of a man who had just been shot a few minutes earlier. With complete fury in his eyes, Runar squatted down. He wiped away some blood from Ryan''s belly and wrote a rune onto his skin, as the bleeding quickly stopped in the front. He did the same on his back, and then on his leg.


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    "This is just first-aid... we''re going to see a skilled healer later that should be able to take care of all this," Runar said, trying to somehow calm himself down.


    "Don''t worry, I''m fine for now... did everything go well with whatever that thing was earlier?" Ryan asked, groaning lightly as the pieces of metal really fell from his arm this time as the skill deactivated.


    "We managed to pacify him," Runar replied, looking over at Yamada, silently signing to her, "Take care of the situation here and take full credit for taking down the berserker. We''ll deal with the aftermath later."


    Yamada nodded her head, squatting down to properly tie up the gunmen so they couldn''t do anything when they woke up. Ryan carefully walked up to Maximus, pulling the knight into his domain. His limbs were broken right now, but he should be able to figure out how to repair them... that had to be part of this, right?


    When Maximus was recovered, Ryan looked over at Liam, who had nothing but tears streaming down his cheeks. He stood there silently, just staring at what had unfolded in front of him. Ryan held out his hand toward him, trying to force a smile onto his face, "Come on, let''s go."


    Liam quietly grabbed Ryan''s hand, as they walked away from this scene. Runar was trying his best to support them, but he had already pulled up his phone and was talking to some people. It was something about the media, or whatever. Ryan didn''t really pay attention, he had other more important stuff to worry about.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    With music blasting in his ears, Modak was typing something on his computer. He would briefly look away, taking some notes on a piece of paper right next to him. The orc placed the pencil into his mouth, biting down on the wood, "Hm... so if I do that I could speed up the frequency''s wavelength while still keeping the quality¡­?"


    While talking to himself, Modak noticed his phone lighting up. He glanced at the screen and saw some messages from Silvia. Stretching with a light groan, figuring it was time to take a break anyway, Modak pulled off his headphones and swiped to look at the messages.


    "Modak! There''s someone at the door for you!" his younger brother yelled out to him from the hallway, but Modak just turned his head, wanting to at least read the messages first.


    "Just a second!" he replied, managing to read the first line at least.


    <hr>


    Silvia


    Something''s going on in the Channel right now, do you know what...


    <hr>


    "It sounds important!"


    With a groan, Modak looked away from the screen, figuring that he could just reply after checking who it was at the door. He got up from his seat and put his headphones onto his desk. The orc opened the door, looking at Gilik with an annoyed sigh, "What is it?"


    "Some woman said she wants to talk to you," Gilik replied, and Modak glanced down the hallway. With a sigh, Modak walked into the living room, seeing Pock standing in front of the door. A bit curious, Modak grabbed the door and pulled it open a bit more so that he could take a proper look. And the person that stood there confused Modak more than just a little bit. It was Alicia; the current Mistress of the Magic Tower.


    "U-uhm... Wh-What are you... Can I help you?" Modak stuttered out, and Alicia looked back at him with a slight smile.


    "Yes, you could, actually. There''s something that I wanted to speak to you about that we didn''t have the chance to yesterday."


    Modak frowned, confused, "You wanted to... talk to me? Like, me? But... why?"


    Alicia glanced down at Pock, smiling lightly as she turned back to Modak, "Could we speak about this inside?"


    After a bit of contemplation, Modak opened the door. He wasn''t entirely sure if she was trustworthy. This whole situation that Modak had found himself in was so weird and complicated, and after all of Ryan''s yelling last night while Alicia was leaving, he felt a bit unsure. But in the end, he figured it should be fine to at least hear her out.


    "Sorry if it''s a bit messy in here," Modak apologized as he closed the door behind Alicia, who quickly shook her head.


    "Nothing to worry about. You should see how Runar kept his dormitory at the tower," she laughed lightly while being guided to Modak''s room. As he shushed his brothers away, the orc quickly closed the door behind him. Modak pointed toward his chair awkwardly.


    "Please, uhm... take a seat."


    "Don''t mind if I do," Alicia replied, sitting down as she waved her hand around. Modak could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, as Alicia quickly explained, "I just sound-proofed the room. It looks like your siblings are a little nosy."


    "Ah... yeah, sorry about that. So... what would you like to talk about?"


    Alicia glanced around Modak''s room, soon spotting the small tape placed onto the edge of the table, carefully picking it up to take a closer look, "I''m here to take a look at this."


    As she did, Modak remembered something that Runar had briefly mentioned before, "So... you''re interested in the tapes?"


    "Well, if they work as Runar mentioned, I certainly am. Do you mind giving me a quick explanation?"


    Modak slowly nodded. He figured he might as well. Rather, he was just unable to stop his excitement right now. No matter what happened yesterday, he was still talking to the mistress of the magic tower, and she was interested in something he made. How could he not get excited about something like that?


    He hurried and gave her the exact explanation, trying to go into as much detail as he wanted to. Obviously, Alicia would be able to keep up with any terminology and numbers that he threw out, and Modak was sure she was also going to understand all the projects that he used as reference. Alicia listened to everything that he was saying, asking questions to make sure she understood the whole thing properly. And then, once Modak was done, she smiled curiously.


    "I see... I see so this could potentially work quite well," Alicia muttered, looking at Modak, "You said you were planning on turning this process into a paper, correct?"


    Modak nervously nodded, "Yes, that was the idea. I... I''m also using some of the things that I''ve worked out to help with a robotics problem my friend has, but that''s separate from this."


    Alicia crossed her legs, her smile never having left her lips, "I see. In that case, do you think you might want to write that paper in cooperation with the magic tower?"


    "... What?" he wasn''t able to believe what he was hearing, "I... I don''t even have an ounce of mana, how would I be able to work with the magic tower?"


    "The actual ability to use mana is secondary to the ability to understand it. While we are mostly in the business of researching magic in its more classic means and uses, we have been expanding more and more into the field of Magic Engineering. And these tapes could be an incredible tool."


    Modak was confused, "An incredible tool? What do you mean?"


    Alicia raised her finger up, and a magic circle appeared in the air, just floating there without being activated, "A large portion of spells are cast through the specific aggravation, manipulation, and definition of mana. A magic circle like this only works in this specific way, because each part does its job of the larger pattern, doing what it should to define the mana in these very minuscule ways that come together into a bigger picture. And, what you are doing here with this tape is creating very particular and precise patterns of mana. Not only that, but I imagine that once the recorded audio is displayed, it has some mana infused into the sound just by its very nature, so if refined and improved, it could even replace chanting."


    Not sure if he was understanding right, Modak looked at the woman in front of him. He looked at one of the most powerful magic users currently alive, who was sitting on an old chair in his cramped bedroom, "You... you think that my mana tape can be used as a spellcasting conduit?"


    Alicia stood up and smiled up at the orc in front of her, "I think it''s a possibility. Wouldn''t you like to try and find out?"

 52 - Healing

    After barely parking properly, Silvia jumped out of her sister''s car that she had borrowed. She rushed up to the Caf¨¦''s door, but it was locked and that, ''Sorry, we''re spontaneously closed today'' sign that was on the door far too often just laughed in her face. Anxiously, Silvia ran around the building to get to the door leading directly into the flat, loudly knocking on the door.


    "Ryan! Runar! Open up!" she exclaimed. Silvia knew that they were here; Ryan had told her that much at least, but he had stopped replying at some point. Plus, Modak wasn''t looking at his phone either, even after Silvia tried to call him maybe a dozen times.


    That anxiety was far too much for her to deal with right now. She knew that Ryan was in the Channel, and today of all days, an overgrown giant covered in stone rampaged through that part of town? Plus, the one that took that giant down was that Demon that worked for Runar, Yamada. One of the few things that Ryan had told her was that they were on their way home and would meet a healer, so she shouldn''t worry. But how could she not worry when Ryan apparently needed a healer for something?


    But before she knew it, the door in front of her opened up, and Runar stood right in front of her, "Calm down, will you?"


    "Calm down? How do you expect me to-"


    "No, I''m just saying to be quiet. The flat is sound-proofed, so at least wait with that until you''re inside," Runar stepped to the side and let the elf inside, and she didn''t hesitate to rush past him and up the stairs, pushing open the door into the main flat. She looked around, hearing voices from the living room and quickly ran inside.


    There, sitting on a chair in his underwear, was a blood-covered Ryan. In front of him, a figure completely cloaked in white was holding a golden ring in front of the ugly wound on his leg.


    "Silvia?" Ryan let out surprised, grimacing lightly as the golden ring gave off a little bit of light.


    "Is that all you have to say? What the hell happened?" a wave of emotions came over her, but in the end Silvia could only feel a mixture of relief and anger. After all, Ryan kept on getting hurt over and over again. Runar stepped into the living room after Silvia.


    "... The situation is a lot more serious than I expected. The shadows really want the Spirit Keeper class," he explained, as Silvia snapped her head toward her friend''s uncle.


    "Aren''t you supposed to be the head of the family? Shouldn''t you be aware of how bad things are?"


    Runar slowly and hesitantly shook his head, "Just being the patriarch doesn''t make me some kind of absolute, all-knowing power. There''s a lot more for me to take care of than just track what the White Shadow Society is doing all the time. Plus, they have a new head, and he seems to be pretty... reckless."


    "No shit, using a spirit core the way that they''ve been trying to at least isn''t a great sign that he''s got all his marbles in order," Ryan scoffed, trying to lightly shift his weight on the chair as the healer kept silently treating the gunshot wound on his leg. His flesh was wriggling weirdly and uncomfortably as it grew back together, but it really wasn''t particularly painful. Just something that he had to get used to.


    "It''s not that. He''s not crazy. I mean... he might be, but he''s just a kid that was put into a really fucked up situation. He''s maybe... eight years old?"


    "Excuse me?" Ryan flinched as he heard his uncle''s words, almost jumping up when he felt a sharp, cramping pain in his leg.


    The healer pushed him back down onto the seat properly, yelling out, "Karim! Samba, ta!"


    Runar sighed, "He''s saying to stay still. Healing isn''t an easy job."


    "Mali, bora ka ji-ik..." the healer grumbled, continuing to move the glowing golden ring around the wound.


    With an apologetic smile, Runar looked over at him, "Loria si ta porak. Idja ruti ma-lek."


    "... Ma-rik."


    "Ma-sag, zhu as al," with a slight laugh, Runar retorted. Or at least, that''s what it sounded like to Ryan and Silvia, who could barely even recognize the language the two were speaking. Though, as if suddenly even more motivated, the hooded healer continued his work.


    "Anyway," Runar started again, "Yes, he''s a kid. All the leaders of the White Shadow Society are. It''s a bit complicated, but... each leader is chosen not by the current members or the former leader, but by a curse that is passed down from one to another. It''s a curse that takes the form of a class. It''s kind of similar to the Spirit Keeper, where only one exists at a time. Their class is called ''White Curse''s Child''."


    "Okay, so what makes that curse so special that it would make a reckless, stupid little kid the leader of a secret society?" Silvia asked as she stepped up to Ryan''s side, trying to see if there was anything she could do. And as Ryan directed her toward the large bag filled with protein bars on the coffee table, Runar explained.


    "Oh, I mean, reckless, yeah. Stupid... no. The curse is a rough one. It strips the afflicted of all physical strength, and basically makes their lifespan a fraction of what it had been. This kid won''t make it to eighteen. He''ll be lucky to turn fifteen, even," Runar''s voice was filled with a lot of complicated emotions about this fact. And it was obvious; no matter how bad the things the White Shadow Society did were, the fact their leader was a literal child that would never reach Ryan and Silvia''s age tainted everything with an air of bitterness, "But... in return, the White Curse''s Child is gifted with intelligence beyond compare. And I say this knowing exactly how it sounds, but there''s nobody more cunning, intelligent, and capable than the current White Curse''s Child."


    "... You''re kidding," Ryan glanced over at Silvia to make sure he heard right, as the elf was opening a protein bar for him.


    Trying to sum things up, Silvia looked at Runar hesitantly, "So we''re dealing with a massively influential secret society led by a super-intelligent, immature little kid?"


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "Mhm. Usually, the White Curse''s Child was always guided by some kind of council, even if the kid would always have all the power in the end. However, that council was overthrown in the period between the death of the last White Curse''s Child and the birth of the next. So now, the kid''s in charge without any proper guidance," Runar explained, clearly not particularly happy about the situation, "But I guess even with the council, they''ve always been a bit insane. Just smarter about it. Every Blanchard''s got some screws loose, to be honest."


    Ryan listened as he hungrily bit into the protein bar, feeling Silvia''s hand on his shoulder, not even fully registering what Runar just said. Ryan was bad with names in the first place, but the name ''Blanchard'' stuck out, and a moment later, he realized why.


    "Runar... are the Blanchards a Lamia family?"


    Surprised, Runar nodded his head, "Yeah, they are. How did you know?"


    "... One of them goes to our school, Christopher. Actually, he was here not too long ago, while you had that phone call about Liam, and I was watching the shop," Ryan explained, and the moment he said that name, Runar''s expression dropped.


    "Christopher Blanchard was here? In the caf¨¦? What did he want? What did he-"


    "He didn''t do anything, he just ordered something and went on his way. Sure, he was a bit weird, but I thought he was just being weird. Not that he was staring into my soul because he wanted to steal my class..."


    "Wait..." Silvia started, putting a few things together, "Was he the one that gave Vanda the fragment?"


    Ryan snapped his head toward Silvia, and then hurriedly looked over at Runar for confirmation, "Was it? Did that bastard do that to Gaia?"


    Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Runar nodded his head, "Yes, or at least we think so. We don''t know exactly what his class is, but it''s somehow related to contracts. Hence, why that Vanda girl wasn''t able to talk about him; she entered some kind of binding contract supported by the system."


    "Okay, well... that explains it at least," Ryan muttered, "Do you think they have any more fragments or cores?"


    Runar shrugged, "I''m not sure. It would surprise me, but you never know. The fact they only used Gaia''s fragments to do all of this gives me hope that they don''t."


    With some level of relief that Runar thought so too, Ryan let out a long sigh, as the healer suddenly stood up.


    "Kora ga lak," he said, carefully placing the golden ring into his cloak.


    "Ah, he says he''s done. Get yourself cleaned up in a bit and take it easy. I think Tiar is helping you out with replenishing your blood quicker but still just rest for a day or two," Runar translated, and Ryan looked down a bit surprised. There was still blood covering his leg, but the pain from the bullet wound was basically completely gone. It''s the same as it was with his belly earlier. No pain, just some discomfort and soreness.


    "Tiar?" Silvia asked a bit confused, trying to catch up to what was really happening. Ryan quickly held up his left arm.


    "It''s them, the symbiote. We decided on Tiar," Ryan explained, and the symbiote happily replied.


    " :D "


    Silvia smiled lightly, "Well, nice to meet you then, Tiar."


    " :) :) :) "


    The healer continued packing up his things, like different effigies and trinkets that were scattered around on the floor, placing them back into his cloak before walking over to Runar, "Porili-ka, mago si-ra ta por. Jhua zi gorun lumir."


    Runar replied with a quick nod, "Lumir isu-ga dir maron," he slightly bowed down, as if trying to show the healer respect, "Barig unag heplan."


    Turning around toward Ryan, the healer briefly nodded to him and then made his way out of the living room, leaving the flat a few moments later. Runar quickly turned toward the two, "He''s going to be sticking around for a while in case we have any more... emergencies. But White Mages, and pure healers like him in general, are rare, so he''ll have to leave in a couple of weeks. Until then, we''re going to have to try and train Ryan up a bit."


    "Didn''t you just say I should rest?" Ryan asked with a raised brow, but Runar shrugged.


    "Sure, but we do need to take some precautions. Our first priority is to get you to level 10 so that we can get the shadows off your back since they won''t be able to get your class anymore then. We also need you to unlock some physical stats just as some extra insurance, but with Tiar helping you out, that shouldn''t be an issue."


    Ryan slowly got up, feeling much more sturdy on his legs than he expected, especially considering he had a hole in one of them not too long ago. He looked at his uncle, walking past him into the hallway, "But first I guess I should just get cleaned up and then take care of Gaia, right?"


    "Right. I''ll order you some food while you''re in the shower. Does pizza sound good?"


    "Oh yeah, pizza sounds great right now. Get the biggest you can order," Ryan immediately said as he made his way to the bathroom to take a shower. Once he was gone, Runar looked at Silvia.


    "Do you want something to eat as well?"


    The elf thought about it for a moment, and in the end just shrugged, "Sure. Oh, but I''m vegetarian, so-"


    "I got you, don''t worry," Runar replied, finishing the text that he was writing to someone. To Silvia, it didn''t look like he had ordered anything, but she figured Runar knew what he was doing. He sat down on one of the chairs, looking up at the elf, "I know that this all is a bit rough to watch. But... this is also exactly why I didn''t want to get Ryan involved. This whole world is-"


    "But it''s too late for that now," Silvia replied immediately, "You can''t expect Ryan to just move on after everything that you''ve told him. And you can''t expect Modak and I to just let him go through this alone."


    Runar leaned more into the backrest of the chair, glancing Silvia up and down, "Why are you even going so far for him? You''ve known him for barely half a year."


    The elf slowly moved over and sat down on the couch, "I don''t know. Does it really matter for how long we''ve known each other? Ryan and Modak are my best friends. I don''t believe that time is the most important part for that kind of connection."


    The two looked at each other for a few moments, locking eyes. In the end, Runar was the one that gave in, letting out a long sigh, "Fine, you''re right, I guess. Anyway... there''s something I meant to suggest to you. You''re the one that made what Ryan was wearing in the dungeon, right?"


    Silvia slowly nodded her head, "Yeah, why? Was there something wrong with it? It was my first time making something like that, but-"


    "No, no, nothing was wrong with it. Rather, it''s the opposite; for what you were working with, it was pretty high-quality. Do you want to keep making some things for Ryan?"


    Silvia seemed a bit taken aback, "Uh... yeah, I wouldn''t mind that at all. But don''t you have your own people to do that kind of thing already?"


    "Well, sure, but we''ve kind of got people for everything already. We don''t have any particular openings, but considering that you''re already Ryan''s ''aide'', we could just make you his exclusive equipment designer. You would work with some others that do the actual production, though. They''re Awakened and can strengthen things they make. And we would need to teach you a few more things so you know what materials we have access to... But it shouldn''t be too much work."


    Silvia thought about it for a moment. If that meant she could make something for Ryan that could actually stop him from getting hurt all the damn time, Silvia would really jump at that opportunity. It was just, "... Would that be the only thing I could do for him?"


    Runar immediately shook his head, "No, I don''t think so. It''s not like he''ll go through a ton of equipment anyway. We still need to show you all a bit more about what we do here. But in the end, we''ll really only know what you can do to help out once Ryan''s made his choice about what he wants to do."

 53 - Repair

    Stepping out of his bedroom, properly cleaned up and dressed in new, not blood-drenched clothes, Ryan decided to make a short stop before heading back to the living room. He knocked on the door of Runar''s old office, which had now been turned into Liam''s bedroom.


    "Yo, it''s me. Can I come in?"


    For a few moments, there was silence coming in from inside. Ryan fiddled around with the small wooden box in his hands, running his fingers over the engravings as time passed. He almost thought he was going to be ignored, but before long, the boy replied, "... Yeah, sure."


    Ryan pushed open the door; Liam was sitting in the dark room alone, the blinds having been pulled down completely, and Ryan instinctively reached out to the light switch.


    "Can you keep the light off? Please?" Liam requested, and Ryan raised a brow. He figured it wasn''t that big a deal, it wasn''t like he was here to do gymnastics anyway. After closing the door behind himself, Ryan carefully stepped into the room, sitting down on the ground a few steps away from where the bed should be.


    "You like it dark, huh? I get that, so do I sometimes."


    "It''s not that I like it dark, but the light is just too... bright," Liam explained, and Ryan remembered one of the things that Runar had explained to him about vampires. Some things that he had to know since he was going to be living with a young vampire boy. All vampires, being a people of the night, had dark vision. It adjusted a bit when they were outside, but they were generally just far more sensitive to any sort of light than most other people.


    "So... how''re you doing? Today was pretty rough," Ryan pointed out, and Liam just scoffed lightly.


    "Rough? You got... you got shot..." the boy replied, and Ryan could swear that he was pushing down some sniffles.


    "Meh, it could''ve been worse," with a laugh, Ryan leaned back onto his hands, "And hey, I even got a super cool new skill. Did you see my sick-ass arm earlier?"


    Liam stayed silent for a while, and Ryan just sat there, letting him think. He could feel the boy''s stares practically digging into his skin, but that was fine. What bothered Ryan more was that he could feel some stomach gurgling closing in.


    The young vampire finally spoke up again, "... And you''re sure you''re okay?"


    "Never been better. I got every part of Gaia with me now. Actually, her fragments seem eager to be properly put back together, and then I''ll get started building her body," with excitement in his voice that he wasn''t able to hide, Ryan looked around the room as his eyes slowly started adjusting to the darkness, "Though, I''ll have to figure out how to fix up Maximus first..."


    "How can you be so... calm about this?"


    Ryan smiled lightly as he pushed himself up, looking right at Liam, though he could only barely see the boy''s outline in this darkness, "I''m your knight now, right? Can''t come here showing my weak side to my king, can I?"


    Liam stayed silent for a while again, slowly speaking up, "I''m... kind of tired. Do you think you could..."


    With an immediate nod, Ryan carefully made his way back to the door, trying not to run into anything, "Of course, don''t worry. I''m starving anyway, so I''ll be headed back out to the living room. I''ll probably stick around at home to take it easy for the next couple days, so if you need anything, just let me know, okay?"


    "... Okay."


    Ryan pulled open the door and stepped outside, smiling at the boy as he stepped into the hallway. It was a very short conversation, but Ryan still hoped that it helped Liam a bit. Or at least, he hoped that the boy understood that he could come to Ryan when something was wrong or when he needed to talk about what happened. And right as he closed the door, Ryan noticed something.


    The smell of wonderful, oily, steaming-hot pizza entering his nose. As if drawn to it by force, Ryan rushed into the living room, where Runar was currently putting down the pizza boxes, and without hesitation, he grabbed a slice. He folded the cheese-pizza in half and stuffed it into his mouth, almost moaning as the flavour spread over his tongue.


    "Rude," Runar scoffed slightly, and Ryan just stared at him with a full mouth. He chewed a couple of times and then swallowed.


    "Yeah, I don''t really care, I''m far too fucking hungry," Ryan pointed out, sitting down at the table. He looked over at Silvia as she came over to have something to eat as well, "Oh and... I was wearing those clothes you made for my birthday today..."


    The elf looked at him a bit surprised, "You did? I didn''t expect you would... that''s great! How did you find them?"


    "It was comfortable as hell, really. But... I had to tear up the shirt to use it to stop the bleeding on my leg, and then the blood from the wound on my belly sort of soaked into the pants, so..." Ryan awkwardly admitted, and Silvia sighed lightly.


    "Well, at least you got some use out of them... better than nothing I guess?" Silvia laughed slightly, "I can make you new ones, I think I still have the patterns at home. I kind of hoard them."


    "Honestly, that would be great... these clothes are so fucking hot, I''m dying," with a loud groan, Ryan ran his hand over his arm. He was already sweating a ton right now. His body was running so hot at the moment, and he didn''t have any other clothes that allowed him to keep as cool as the ones that Silvia had made for his birthday.


    "I''ll get to it when I''m home, then," with an excited smile, Silvia reached out and pulled a slice of pizza onto a plate.


    "Okay, so. Let''s get started," Ryan smiled, holding his hand forward. Two streams of magic flowed out of his fingertips. One of them was a mass of red wisps of light, while the other was made of deep green threads. A one-legged and one-armed Maximus stood there with the Crusader arm laying in front of him. And to his side were the three fragments of Gaia.


    Ryan activated his ''Spirit Construction'' skill, quickly picking up the arm and attaching it to Maximus so that he had at least a slightly easier time until Ryan figured out how to fix the broken parts. And then, he carefully grabbed the three green fragments laying in front of him.


    "Alright, let''s get you fixed up first," a smile was solidly planted on his lips, as he took two of the fragments, pushing them together. The moment he managed to slot the pieces together properly, the crack just completely disappeared as the fragments became one. And then, the moment the third piece moved into place, some messages appeared in front of Ryan.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    <hr>


    [You have successfully repaired the fragmented Spirit Core of the -Garden Golem Spirit Gaia-]


    [You have earned Gaia''s Gratitude and trust]


    <hr>


    The moment those messages appeared, Ryan could feel something tingle in the back of his head. It was vaguely connected to the side of Gaia''s domain, and curiously, he tugged on it. Though right now, it was just a shapeless sensation, he could already guess what exactly it was, stretching out his hand as he pulled it out of his mind. Before, this was provided through Maximus'' quest, but this time it was a bit different.


    Green threads of mana flowed out of Ryan''s arm, and a massive amount at that. They slowly started to form a box in front of him. But... it was kind of large. Honestly, maybe a little too large. It didn''t look like it would actually fit on the table, but he wasn''t able to change where it would go anymore, as all the threads came together and formed a massive cardboard box just a few centimetres above the table-top.


    The box slammed down with a heavy thud that Ryan could feel in his whole body, and Silvia and Runar both flinched in response as an oversized box, 150cm in height, was now standing on the table. On its front was the art of an overgrown golem with moss and flowers growing on its body, surrounded by fields of crops and flowers.


    "Uhm... Ryan?" Runar let out, peeking past the box, "What''s... what''s this?"


    "Uh... That''s Gaia, I guess?"


    "... Seriously?" with an awkward expression, Runar took a look at the box, "Was Maximus'' box that large as well?"


    "Nope. It was a lot smaller... I think this just means that Gaia''s body is, well... massive," Ryan pointed out, looking at the writing on the box. The same as on Maximus'' box, there was a small descriptive text, and within that text, the words ''1:10 Scale'' stuck out to him. So that meant that Gaia''s true size was just absolutely enormous.


    Ryan could feel the excited wriggling of Tiar on his arm, and quickly got up. He stuffed the pizza crust into his mouth and opened up the box. It was going to disappear once all the frames were taken out anyway, so he didn''t need to be careful with this. And so, he quickly pulled out the first frame. It was completely made of stone. And so were all the pieces attached to that frame.


    However, all those pieces were really just randomly shaped rocks the size of the last segment of a finger. Nothing that would tell him exactly where the pieces could go, nor how they could fit together. And in the end, Gaia''s body was really just made of a pile of rocks.


    "Are you... are you fucking with me?" Ryan asked with a wry smile, "Am I seriously supposed to solve an impossible puzzle like this? With a skill that I can activate for ten minutes every hour?"


    With a slight scoff, Runar looked into the cardboard box, "Good luck?"


    "Oh, fuck off..." Ryan groaned, quickly starting to pull the stone frames out of the box. Silvia and Runar both quickly helped out until the box was almost empty, at which point Ryan took a quick photo of each of the box''s sides with his phone, and then took out the last ones. The cardboard box quickly disappeared back into green threads that were soon pulled into Ryan''s arm. And then, all that was left were the more than almost three dozen individual frames made of stone.


    "... Well. Okay. So, are you going to do the whole trial and error thing again?" Silvia asked, and Ryan slowly shrugged.


    "I might have to. But honestly, for now I''m just hoping that these parts are at least sorted a little bit. Like, at least Maximus has six different parts. Each arm, each leg, his torso, and his head. Since Gaia also has a humanoid shape in the picture, I''m guessing maybe it''s the same for her? And since there''s only one type of frame, and because all the parts are literally the same exact size, just shaped slightly differently... maybe the fitting pieces are close to each other."


    "... I think either way, this isn''t going to be solved today, right?" Runar asked, and Ryan nodded without hesitation.


    "Oh yeah, definitely not. This is definitely going to take a while..." Ryan sighed loudly, "At least it''s going to help me level up the Spirit Construction skill."


    "You need any help?" Silvia offered, but Ryan shook his head.


    "I think it''s better if I do it alone. It''s not like I''m on a time-crunch here, and I don''t exactly have an infinite supply to work with," as he explained this, Ryan picked up Gaia''s core, speaking to her, "It looks like it''s going to take a little while until you''ve got your body. Sorry."


    The core''s light seemed to respond to Ryan''s words, as the light that Gaia gave off softened and brightened in joyful patterns. It looked like she was really just happy to be herself again for the time being, whether she had her body or not. Ryan smiled, carefully placing her core onto the table.


    "So what, can you just understand them now?" Runar asked with a curious frown, and Ryan looked up with a shrug.


    "I get a vibe of how they''re feeling. Like, right now, Gaia is happy and excited. Maximus is feeling relieved, despite the fact that two of his limbs are broken. Oh, that reminds me..." Ryan held his hand forward, pulling the broken arm and leg out of Maximus'' domain. The table was already pretty cluttered with pizza and the pile of stone frames, but these small parts didn''t take up too much space.


    "Wait, what the... what happened?" Silvia asked, looking from the broken limbs at Maximus.


    "He blocked some bullets for me. The limbs were completely shattered... but the system message said that they ''can'' be used until repaired''. So... I should be able to fix them."


    "Poor Maximus..." with a sad expression, Silvia walked up to the small knight and carefully rubbed his shoulder with one of his fingers.


    Runar smiled lightly, picking up the stone frames to place them onto the ground for the time being so that Ryan had space to work, "Yeah, repairing them is part of the deal. Though exactly how you do it is different for everyone, just as the construction process in the first place. What kind of tools did Hayden have?"


    Ryan looked over at the wooden box on the edge of the table and quickly opened it up, grabbing everything out of it. There were different types of clippers and pliers, different brushes, some needles and a small spool of thread, a handkerchief, a metal file, and that was all. Looking at some of the pieces, Ryan noticed that some parts were bent out of shape, others were cracked or fully shattered. The leather was torn, and the branches were cracked into small pieces as well.


    Ryan picked up two adjacent pieces that didn''t seem particularly bent out of shape. He knew that these parts belonged to each other because there was a small line running over them that seemed to connect. This part was from the upper thigh. Ryan pushed them together as he had when initially constructing the piece, seeing a small red line shining out from the crack. He didn''t know how, but he could almost feel the two parts connect, but not quite. As though there was something missing. They were sticking together as if he had used glue that hadn''t cured quite yet, but they weren''t properly together.


    Curiously, Ryan grabbed the other tools. He knew that the handkerchief could be used to remove scratches from Maximus, so maybe he could use it to smooth over the crack and have them properly combine again. Though, as Ryan actually tried this, it didn''t work. Though, the scratches on the surface of the broken pieces had faded a bit. And then, he noticed the needles and spool of thread from the corner of his eye. As he reached out to it, thin lines started to glow on the needles, and the thread itself similarly seemed to glow in Maximus'' red mana.


    Ryan grabbed the end of the thread, swiftly pushing it through the eye of one of the smaller needles. This one had a slight curve, so he figured it was the right choice.


    "You did that in the first try? Man, dexterity really is a neat stat..." Silvia muttered as she watched jealously, and Ryan laughed lightly.


    "My fingers just kind of do exactly what I want them to. It''s pretty neat."


    Once he had pushed the thread through enough, Ryan placed the tip of the needle against the metal, and as if he was trying to push through butter, the needle pierced through. And as he pulled the thread through the hole, Ryan could already tell that this was going to work. However, looking at all of these ridiculously small pieces, Ryan also understood that this was going to take a long time as well.


    At least Tiar seemed excited.

 54 - Repair (2)

    Ryan carefully grabbed the pliers to bend the metal of this small piece Maximus'' broken leg properly into shape, making sure that it fit right into the spot it was supposed to go. He pressed the piece into position, quickly pushing the needle through the metal to sew the parts together.


    The metal fused back into a single part, and Ryan quickly ran over the whole piece with the handkerchief to clean it up and get rid of any further scratches. The threads had already dissolved, so now, it really just looked like Maximus'' leg, as though it had never been broken in the first place.


    <hr>


    [Knight Spirit Maximus'' -Left Leg- has been fully repaired and can now be used again]


    [The -Spirit Construction- Skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    A smile quickly formed on Ryan''s face as he held the leg up to Maximus, who quickly hopped over. Ryan held the leg into the right position and quickly attached it before the skill''s effect ran out.


    "Perfect," with a relieved sigh, Ryan watched as Maximus properly moved around and put weight onto his freshly-repaired leg. He still had to do the same thing with Maximus'' arm, but now that he knew exactly what to do, he should be able to do it properly in the 23 minutes that he would now have for the next activation.


    " :D " Tiar seemed just as excited as Ryan had expected. He could feel them almost concentrating on his fingertips as he worked, as if trying to watch the whole thing as closely as they possibly could.


    Just as he finished, he could hear heavy, rushing footsteps after the front door was closed. Modak rushed into the living room.


    "I-I''m so sorry, I wasn''t looking at my phone, I-" the orc apologized nervously, but Ryan just smiled up at him as he turned around.


    "Dude, calm down, it''s fine. I''m fine."


    Clearly relieved to hear that and see that he was just sitting there with some pizza at his side, Modak let out a long sigh as he dropped his bag near the table.


    "Oh, thanks the gods... What even happened?"


    "Some experiment to try and use the spirits in a new way went wrong, I guess? Runar says they''re still trying to figure it out," Ryan pointed out, as his uncle entered the living room as well. He had gone to the door to let Modak inside, and was now catching up to the panicked orc.


    "Mhm, we managed to get some images taken. Most of it was destroyed when that giant went berserk, but we''re guessing that they wanted this exact sort of thing to happen. Just... not now," Runar sat down on the couch, "But either way, we managed to get Gaia''s last fragment. Hence, all the... stone stuff."


    Only now noticing, Modak glanced down at the ground next to the dining table. A bunch of model frames were stacked up on the ground, "Those are all for Gaia''s body?"


    "Mhm... they are," Ryan sighed loudly, "It''s gonna take a while. I''ll work on her body over the next couple of days, I should be able to finish it by... Tuesday? Wednesday the latest."


    Modak smiled lightly, glancing over at what was actually laying in front of Ryan at the moment. He spotted the tools surrounding the fractured remains of Maximus'' arm, "Wait, what... What happened with Maximus?"


    "Ah... he took some bullets for me, so his parts broke..."


    Modak looked away from Ryan over to Silvia, who was just leaning back in one of the chairs, "Should''ve picked up the phone when I called you."


    "Yeah, about that..." Modak hesitantly looked around at the others, particularly looking over at Runar, "Alicia Boreard visited me earlier..."


    Taken aback, Silvia and Ryan looked at their friend, "Excuse me? What did she want? Are you okay?"


    Modak looked at the anxious Ryan, quickly trying to calm him down, "It wasn''t anything like that, she... she wants me to work with the magic tower to continue developing my Mana-Cassettes..."


    This time, Runar was a bit surprised, "Seriously? I figured she''d be interested, but... to try and scout you. Good job, I wasn''t aware you were that much of a prodigy."


    "What did you say?" Silvia asked, excited for her friend, and Modak just nervously shrugged.


    "I guess I told her I''d think about it? I was a bit overwhelmed, so I didn''t know what else to say..."


    Ryan looked at his friend, trying to suppress his complicated feelings about that. After Saturday, he thought about how he reacted when Alicia refused to help out with Gaia''s fragment, and while he did think he overreacted, he still couldn''t help himself but feel iffy about her. He looked at the orc with a smile.


    "You should say ''yes''. That''s an insane opportunity, man, I don''t think you''re going to get that kind of offer very often," Ryan pointed out.


    "But I... I promised to help you out here, so I can''t just go and join the magic tower instead!"


    "Joining the magic tower doesn''t mean we''ll never see each other again. This is something you can''t let up."


    Modak looked at his friend, not really sure what to say, "I... I don''t know, I''ll have to think about it a bit more..."


    Quickly, Silvia stepped in, "What''s there to even think about? Just call her right now and tell her you''re in! Don''t worry, I''ll make sure that Ryan doesn''t die in the next couple of weeks," she said with a broad smile directed at Modak, who was almost tearing up at his friends'' words.


    "Guys, just... thank you so much, I-"


    "Uhm... I don''t want to spoil the mood, but..." Runar looked at the three with a raised brow, "Joining the magic tower doesn''t mean you have to cut your connection with us. Plenty of the mages from our family actively work at the tower, and some members of the tower directly work with or for us. Shit, I was a member of the magic tower for five years. Actually, technically, I''m still a member, just an inactive one. You can do your research and stick around with us too. If you feel like it, of course."


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Ryan, Modak and Silvia grew silent for a moment, looking at Runar who, albeit for a very good reason, ruined the moment.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Red tendrils slithered over Ryan''s skin, though rather, they were part of his skin. They wrapped around his fingers, carefully tracing exactly how he moved. Over the past few days, Tiar had gotten better and better at supporting Ryan''s movements. Though Tiar didn''t directly make his fingers more nimble, it still felt like he was felt with a bit more energy, and his fingers didn''t feel tired as quickly.


    Especially when using the Spirit Construction skill, his fingers and wrist would start to feel sore super quickly, but Tiar seemed to be doing their best to prevent that. And then, there was something else.


    <hr>


    [Your Dexterity has increased by 0.01]


    <hr>


    His dexterity was increasing way too fast. Sure, using related skills did make it easier to increase your stats, but that didn''t mean that it should increase this fast. Just over the past two days, his dexterity increased by a total of 0.04. That in itself was already shocking enough, but to his even greater surprise, his intuition increased by 0.01 just this morning.


    While trying to construct Gaia''s body, since he didn''t have anything to go off of beside a drawing of what she was supposed to look like when ''finished'', Ryan was going mostly off his gut feelings. He''s been having a lot of those lately, and when he was relying on those instead of just what he thought consciously might fit together, he found himself actually getting through the process a lot quicker. Not to mention,


    Though, his stats weren''t the only thing that grew a good bit over the past few days. Due to him constantly using the skill, his Spirit Construction skill levelled up quite a bit.


    <hr>


    [Spirit Construction]


    [Level - 9] [Proficiency ¨C 13%]


    [Allows the user to construct the Spirits¡¯ physical bodies]


    [Effect ¨C Spirit Construction for 28 Minutes]


    [Cost ¨C 14 MP] [Cooldown ¨C 1 Hour]


    <hr>


    It was only one more level until he reached level 10; though there wasn''t any technical difference as acknowledged by the system, usually people could feel some kind of tangible difference when a skill levelled up to intervals of 10.


    Though, Ryan couldn''t feel much of an effect from the skill anyway, so maybe it was wasted excitement. Either way, the fact that he could now have the skill active basically half the time was more than useful already. At this rate, he should be able to finish Gaia''s body by dinner time.


    Then again, there hasn''t been much of a distinction between any proper mealtime and the usual non-meal time. Ryan was just eating as much as he could without ever feeling properly full. Tiar was really sucking up all the calories he ate completely. It was to the point that Ryan''s jaw was way more sore than his hands were. Even the bullet wounds from just two days ago weren''t that annoying.


    However, at the end of the day, the only part that really mattered now was the fact that he was almost done constructing Gaia''s body. The head, arms, and legs were done first, and right now he was building the torso. Really, he didn''t know exactly what to expect considering the ''Garden Golem'' in her name, but Gaia really just appeared like a classic Golem. As if a boulder sprouted legs, or if someone pushed together rocks until they vaguely resembled the shape of a person. Technically that was what Ryan was doing, just in a very deliberate, specific way that was far too annoying. It was the hardest model he had ever built, even beyond the fact that it was the largest model he had ever built. How heavy everything was when put together didn''t help with that either. Turning around the torso was a whole ordeal in itself.


    But for now, it was time to take a break, anyway. Ryan stood up and stretched, glancing over at Maximus. He was using his fully-repaired limbs again, and Ryan had swapped out the Crusader arm out for the Knight model arm, since it was the less bulky option.


    "I''ll head out to the balcony to water the flowers," he informed the knight, who turned away from the computer monitor, where he was once more reading some random web-comic that Ryan recommended to him.


    It was getting close to a quite pivotal point, so Ryan wasn''t surprised when Maximus immediately turned back to the screen to continue reading.


    With a protein bar in his hand, unwrapping it as he walked, Ryan stepped out into the hallway. He could hear the bustling of the caf¨¦ downstairs, as Runar was taking care of business on his own. Ryan told him that he was fine with helping out, but his uncle insisted that he should take it easy and focus on Gaia when he could. Maybe this would finally convince Runar to hire some more part-timers, considering how busy the caf¨¦ looked to be today.


    Ryan stepped outside and quickly approached the small ''shed'' in the corner of the balcony, though it was really more of a box with a few tools in it. He grabbed the watering can from it and made his way back inside to fill it up in the bathroom. As the bathtub''s faucet gurgled alive and started filling the watering can, Ryan felt a buzzing in his pocket. He stuffed the protein bar into his mouth and pulled out his phone.


    There was an event that he had mostly ignored last time he got a message about it, because he had better things to worry about, and he barely remembered to just rsvp to it at some point. And now there was a reminder.


    <hr>


    <blockquote>


    Newly-Awakened Get-together, Reminder


    Saturday, 1st Memenar 1354, 18:00 at New Riverside''s Awakened Centre


    </blockquote>


    <hr>


    "Urgh..." With a loud groan, Ryan swiped the reminder away. There was probably nothing he felt less like doing than go and meet a bunch of random new awakened. He felt sort of excited about the idea when Yanna had told him about it, but right now he really couldn''t care any less about it. But at the end of the day, he figured he should do it and go, even if it was just to try and boost his ''Sociability'' a bit.


    As the watering can overflowed, Ryan pushed the phone back into his pocket. He poured out some of the water, turned off the faucet, and made his way back out to the balcony. He went around and quickly watered some of the other potted plants, that definitely needed a good bit of care, especially in this weather, and then approached the planter that was Ryan''s main focus.


    The dirt was covered in small copper-coloured sprouts as the wildflowers started to push their way out. Some of them were already oxidized pretty badly, but there were a couple that seemed to be in pretty good condition. Either way, whichever the case, Ryan just had to keep on taking care of them and then see what would happen when they were fully-grown.


    "Maybe Gaia can do something with these," he muttered to himself. Her being a ''Garden Golem'', Ryan figured that at least shouldn''t be too weird an idea. And she particularly seemed to care for flowers. After Ryan had fixed up her core, Gaia''s domain had quickly changed. Though it wasn''t filled with any objects like Maximus'', the ground of her domain had been turned to a field of grass with bright flowers planted in a circle around where the core was floating. The Spirit Domain skill actually also levelled up as Gaia''s domain developed, so when it did, it expanded enough to reveal a small root peaking out at the edge. It seemed like if it continued expanding, some kind of tree would soon come into view. But there were still a few level-ups needed for that tree to actually come into view.


    When he was done watering the flowers, Ryan put the can to the side and leaned onto the balcony''s railing for a while, just looking down at the road. And just as he did, he noticed a familiar car pulling up. A moment later, a young, white-haired boy stepped out of the car, wearing a small school backpack.


    "Yo, Liam," Ryan said with a smile, watching as the boy looked around a bit confused before spotting him up on the balcony, "How was school?"


    With a smug grin, Liam pressed his hands onto his hips, "It went amazingly! I recruited two young peasants as my servants!"


    The pedestrians walking around the sidewalk looked at the boy confused, but he managed to ignore them pretty well, "Sounds great. Come on up and tell me about it, alright?"

 55 - Six Mirrors

    "... and then, Laram dropped the barbells straight onto the ground, and then the ground under the platform cracked," Yanna laughed, taking a sip of her coffee, and Silvia quickly chuckled along as the two continued walking up the road to their home.


    "Oh gosh, does that kind of thing happen often?"


    "Oh, not at all. It was a new machine that wasn''t properly installed and calibrated yet. Plus, Laram''s a good bit stronger than what the school''s seen in a couple years, so they might not have expected that this could happen," the minotaur explained, "But I mean, Laram''s working out all the time anyway. If anyone deserves to accidentally wreck that place with a new PB, then it''s him."


    Silvia scoffed, "You''re there just as much as he is."


    As if a bit hesitant, Yanna scratched her cheek, "... Well, sure, but I don''t do nearly as much pure strength-training as he does. He''s going for strength, and at this point I''m trying to refine my body to be able to properly raise my aura."


    "Hm... I guess so. Oh, by the way, did Ryan cancel properly, or..."


    "Yes, he did. I was supposed to properly show him around the awakened gym at uni today, but he got hurt again. Seriously, what''s that guy doing to get himself in that much shit?" with a long groan, Yanna kept sipping on her coffee, as Silvia awkwardly did the same, trying to avoid the question. It wasn''t like she could just say that he was shot a couple of times just two days ago. But before she could say anything, Yanna continued, "Though, I guess it kind of worked out... I actually met up with Modak today because I had some free time after Ryan cancelled. Modak seemed kind of different, just a lot more confident and excited. He couldn''t tell me what it was about, but it was great to see him like that!"


    Silvia looked up at her sister with a broad smile on her face, "Come on, just ask him out already! You know he''s going to say yes to literally anything you suggest. Gods, he''d even go to mini-golf with you, and he absolutely hates mini-golf."


    The minotaur hesitantly looked down, fiddling with the straw in her coffee, "I don''t know... it''s not like I really have the time to date right now. Plus, Modak said he''d be busy for a while too, so I''m not sure if it''s a good time..."


    Though Silvia wanted to protest, she knew that it wasn''t really that easy. Yanna had a lot of things going on, being an up-and-coming awakened-league star, while it looked like Modak was going to take Alicia up on her offer and work with the Magic Tower for a while.


    "I get that... but just because you''re busy doesn''t mean you don''t get to give this a try. At the very least, you two should talk about it!" Silvia pointed out, "Look, Fae and I spoke about things as well, and we''re going on a proper date this Saturday! And if we had both kept on being weird and avoiding talking about it, that wouldn''t be happening. I know you''re worried it''s going to be weird, but you just need to give it a shot, or nothing''s going to change. And that would... suck. You two are, like, perfect for each other!"


    Yanna looked at her younger sister hesitantly, "You''re sure?"


    "Oh, of course I''m sure! Now, stop being so scared of a single nerdy orc! You''ll literally be taking punches, swords, and blasts of magic to the face for a living!"


    "Yeah, but I don''t have to be scared about ruining my friendship with those punches, swords, and blasts of magic... plus, if things don''t work out, wouldn''t that make things weird for you too? Or rather, even if it does work out. Your sister dating your best friend? That... isn''t that weird?"


    "Hah, as if! It''s like, the best thing ever! If you two are end-game, he''ll be family! Too bad we don''t have another sibling... but... hmm, do you think Modak''s sister is Ryan''s type? If we could get those two to hook up, we''d at least all be family somehow, right?"


    Yanna thought about it for a moment, but when she caught herself considering it in a serious manner, the minotaur couldn''t help but let out a laugh. The two continued chatting as they approached their home. As Yanna started climbing up the stairs to the front door, Silvia''s phone started ringing.


    "Ah, go ahead! It''s Fae, I gotta take this," Silvia said excitedly, and Yanna grinned lightly.


    "Alright, little lovebird. Just don''t stay out for too long."


    "Shush!" Silvia replied immediately, answering the call with an excited expression. As Yanna made her way inside, Silvia sat down on the steps.


    "Wait, seriously? And then, what? He just picked it all up like nothing happened?" the young elf asked with a gleeful joy in her voice, feeling her cheeks turn a bright pink as she heard the other girl''s voice talk about some random things that happened to them today.


    The conversation continued almost too long, to the point where the sun was starting to glare into Silvia''s eyes as it was setting, "Hey, I gotta go, alright? I''m pretty sure my mom should have finished dinner right about now. Yes, it''s those spinach cannelloni, I don''t know how she does it, but my mom makes them taste divine! Mhm, yeah! Yeah, you... you should come over sometime and give them a try... I''m sure my parents would love to have you over for dinner," Silvia pointed out nervously, but soon, a broad smile appeared on her face, "Yeah, alright! That sounds great! Okay, I really do have to go now. I''ll talk to you soon! Alright, bye-bye!"


    Biting her lower lip excitedly, Silvia jumped up onto her feet, ready to practically sprint up the stairs. That was when a voice entered her ears and made her freeze up completely.


    "I-I see you finally like spinach, huh?"


    Silvia flinched toward the source of the voice. In front of her stood a young elven woman. Actually, Silvia knew exactly how old she was. She had turned 34 this year, though she definitely didn''t look it. She looked more like a human her age than an elf. The smell of her thick hibiscus perfume almost made Silvia want to vomit, as did her bright red lipstick.


    Silvia froze in a cold sweat as she looked at her birth-mother standing in front of her.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Six mirrors were lined up in a half-circle. Mellow green runes were glowing on their frames, as the figures of different individuals were revealed in each of them.


    "Alright, we''re all here, then," Runar crossed his leg, standing in front of those mirrors.


    The person in a mirror to Runar''s left spoke first. The elderly Cyclops'' was wearing intricately decorated robes like you would have seen from nobility a few centuries ago. His rough, disgruntled manner of speaking came in clear contrast to his fashion choices.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "What''s this about? This about that vampire boy? Something go wrong already?" he asked, and before Runar could reply, the person displayed in the mirror furthest to the right replied.


    "That''s why we shouldn''t have used a child, especially not one with his sort of personality problems," the Mustiar carefully stroked her long whiskers that were almost invisible against the mouse-like woman''s greying fur, "I''ve been against this from the beginning!"


    Runar let out a long sigh, before the other elders could throw in their opinions, "No, this isn''t about Liam. He''s doing well, he seems to be making friends at school. It has been fully announced that he''s a vampire, and I even spoke to some of the parents at his school, and they seemed more curious than anything. Some seem a bit apprehensive, but since Liam is such a lively boy, even if a bit weird, they seem to be a lot more open than I actually expected."


    The human in one of the two middle mirrors leaned back in his chair, interlocking his fingers, "So then what is this about? I assume it''s not to chat and report on your new kid''s achievements."


    "Hah, when have I ever reported anything to you guys?" Runar scoffed, shaking his head instantly, "No, this is something else. As some of you might be aware, my nephew has been living with me for a while now."


    "... Against our wishes, yes. What Hayden has done was nothing less than a betrayal of everything our family stands for," the human elder pointed out, and Runar couldn''t really say anything against that. It was true; it was to the point where some factions within the Aglecard family even advocated to imprison him, but Runar''s father decided that he would be completely ''banished'' and blocked from any contact with the family. When Runar himself then became head, he could circumvent that without anyone being able to say anything, and even lifted the inherited banishment on Ryan.


    "Yes, but that was Hayden, not his son. Is our family not about openness and acceptance? Why try to push out a boy who was not even a concept when his father betrayed us," the lizardman in one of the mirrors with scarred, matted scales all over the exposed parts of his skin, pointed out. Runar smiled lightly toward him, but before he could speak, the cyclops responded.


    "Blood means something! The kid of someone that could commit such a sin is capable of the same, if not worse!"


    "Blood does not carry morals, words do. And Hayden''s words were never able to reach the boy. Hayden died long before any memories could be formed."


    "Then what about his mother? Someone that''d get with a heinous criminal like Hayden can''t be any better! A broad like her-"


    "Shut your mouth, Orion," Runar''s voice carried a weight with it that startled all the elders. He was usually a calm-minded man and didn''t often raise his voice, after all, "Mary is a good, kind, and loving woman. She raised Ryan into a man of upstanding character, who doesn''t hesitate to help those in need. When''s the last time you took a bullet and threatened to jump to your death just to-"


    Realizing that Runar was talking about things that none of these people knew about yet, he stopped himself. First and foremost, he had to explain one thing.


    "Ryan was chosen as the Spirit Keeper."


    The six elders grew silent, but their expressions spoke volumes. There were only a few things that could really be passing through their minds right now, and Runar quickly continued, "He came into contact with two spirits already. The first was Maximus, the Knight Spirit. Later, while exploring a dungeon, he destroyed a dungeon heart and found a fragment of one of the spirits that was lost back then, Gaia the Garden Golem Spirit."


    "Wait, hold on," the mustiar leaned forward, "A dungeon? Why was a spirit''s fragment in a dungeon?"


    Runar closed his eyes with a long sigh, "Well, why do you think? It''s ''cause of the White Shadow Society."


    "Of course it''s them," the human elder scoffed annoyed, "Have you found other fragments?"


    "We found all the fragments. Ryan is currently constructing Gaia''s body. However, each one of the fragments was being used for a very clear reason. The first was in a low-level dungeon with an easy-to-find core room and acted as the trigger of the dungeon being born. The second was placed inside of some kind of small robot, and later on was corrupted to cause the robot to go berserk. And the third was apparently being used for some kind of experiment. I''m sure you all heard about the Giant in the Channel the other day."


    Orion, the cyclops, crossed his arms, "So they''re trying to tap into the spirits powers? What for?"


    "... From my point of view, there only seems to be a single good reason," the lizardman pointed out, "Those were clearly all very obvious cases. Too obvious for how the White Shadow Society usually operates. Are they aiming for the spirits themselves this time?"


    "That''s what it looks like, yeah. If they can turn the tide of public opinion against spirits... then other magically influenced species will follow pretty quickly, " Runar tiredly pushed his hand through his hair, trying to get it out of his face, "We''re keeping an eye on them right now, but for the time being it looks like they won''t be able to abuse spirits like that anymore. But we should still be careful. Bruno, please tighten the search for the lost spirits. We''ll send you over some of the data we''ve gathered from the lab where they were doing the experiments, that should help you out."


    Bruno, the Rottweiler-Canir who had been keeping quiet this whole time, slowly nodded his head, "Got it. That reminds me, I was wondering why you requested the cores we had collected so far."


    "I figured it made sense to keep them safe with Ryan. He''s doing a pretty good job, and he''s ridiculously protective over them. Even after just finding a single fragment, helping out Gaia was his top priority. Plus, the more spirits are with him, the faster he can level up. Bluesky is after him right now. Ryan... registered."


    "Excuse me?" the human let out, "How the hell did you let that happen?"


    "... I was on a trip the day after he awakened. Dealing with that Kobold hole that popped up a bit ago, remember? And it looks like Maximus, the Knight Spirit, found out that there was a trace of another spirit somewhere. Ryan immediately registered so he could go into that dungeon," Runar explained, "I''ve dealt with the guys going after him for now, but I want to push him above level 10 as soon as possible so that the Bluesky guys can''t try to steal the class anymore."


    The last of the elders, the old gnome woman who had kept silent this whole time, finally spoke up after a while, "... Is there anything different about the class? It was inactive for twenty-five years, that in itself is abnormal. Is it safe? Are the skills the same?"


    Runar thought about it for a while, but in the end decided that it was best to just fill them in for now. It seemed like the elders were generally receptive enough. Plus, they would find out sooner or later anyway, "Mostly everything seems the same, with two exceptions. One, because his flesh was infected with corruption, I brought him to the nearby Symbiote nest. There, he bonded with a variant called a ''Ruby Symbiote''. Tiar, the symbiote, seemed to have connected to the system somehow, giving Ryan a skill that allows him to recreate parts of the spirits'' bodies as armour for himself. I hadn''t seen that skill in any other records, so it seems to be a unique case through Tiar''s assistance."


    "A symbiote, eh?" Orion let out, clearly a bit annoyed, "A lucky fellow, ain''t he?"


    "... Yeah, maybe. In some ways," Runar sighed awkwardly, "But I think the most important part is the form that his ''construction'' type took. It''s the same as his father''s, that model-building method. He found Hayden''s old tools and they respond to his ability perfectly fine."


    "Did the class get stuck on that method, or was Ryan also an active model-builder?" the gnome asked.


    "The latter. Actually, he seems more hard-core about it than Hayden ever was. But that''s not why I''m bringing it up. Hayden''s version was plastic; very, very strong plastic, but all of our analyses said that it was the same material as any other model-building kit. But in Ryan''s case, the models are constructed with metal, leather, fabric, and even wood. Gaia''s body that he''s constructing right now is made of actual stone. And I don''t know why, either. It''s not like he''s ever built models that use those materials, only those classic plastic ones."


    The gnome cupped her chin curiously, "So either it is a unique sort of adaption, or the class did undergo some changes over the past two decades."


    Runar looked at the gnome hesitantly, "Actually, it does look like there was a change that we can tell for sure. I always kept a line to that ''Spirit Keeper'' seeking spell. It didn''t respond, even though we know for a fact that the Spirit Keeper is back," he explained, and though the others weren''t sure exactly where Runar was going, the gnome did seem to understand.


    "You don''t mean..."


    Runar nodded his head, "Yes. I think it''s possible that there was another Spirit Keeper between Hayden and Ryan."

 56 - Gaia (End of Book 1)

    With anxiety running through his veins, Ryan pushed the green gemstone into its place inside of the centre of Gaia''s body. It fit in perfectly and was solidly held in place by the rock around it. Once Ryan felt confident in pulling back without the gem falling back out, he grabbed the last plate of stones that he had laying next to him. It was about a dozen of the rocks, already fully put together, so that he only had to do this one last thing.


    He pushed the stones onto Gaia''s chest as the green glow of her mana lit up the stone around her. All of the small individual rocks that Ryan had pushed together to form Gaia''s body were starting to grind against each other as a wave of spasms flowed through the spirit''s new body. Her thick fingers were pushed to their furthest angles and her stout legs bent in unnatural ways. If her body weren''t made of a bunch of stones, this would look incredibly uncomfortable, just as it did with Maximus before.


    However, it didn''t take long until Gaia''s body went practically completely limp. The rocks were still properly attached to each other, but Ryan almost felt worried that they were about to fall apart as the gap between each small rock was ''widening'', as if they were only held together by a thin, invisible thread. Really, he had no idea how their bodies were held together. He was just happy that they were.


    "Gaia?" Ryan asked, as the golem''s body slowly came to life. She took control and slowly sat up, pushing up against the rug below her. Since there wasn''t a ton of space on Ryan''s desk, he was only using it for the individual parts, and was instead putting Gaia''s body together on the ground. She was pretty big, after all, about a metre tall when standing up properly.


    The spirit carefully got up onto her legs. For a few moments, she was incredibly unsteady, but before long, as her magic continued spreading through her body, she was able to properly move her body. Without hesitation, she nodded her head toward Ryan. Truly, he didn''t fully understand why she even had a head, considering that she didn''t have eyes or a mouth, just a mass of rocks coming together like the rest of her body. But he appreciated it, anyway.


    Before anything else could happen, Maximus stepped up in front of Gaia. The two looked at each other for a moment, before Gaia moved down onto her knees, leaning forward to the knight. Maximus pressed his forehead against the golem''s. They stayed like this for a few moments, until Maximus pulled back to turn toward Ryan. He bowed with a grateful demeanour, happy to have his friend returned to him.


    "Don''t worry, I''m glad that it all worked out in the end," Ryan smiled, looking at the large model golem in front of him, "But that means at your ''regular'' size you should be ten metres tall? If the packaging is to be trusted, at least... I guess you should fit into your domain properly, but will you be okay? You wouldn''t be able to move a lot, if at all."


    Gaia seemed to look up at Ryan, before taking a step toward him. As she did, her body broke apart into green threads that were quickly pulled into his arm, travelling up his veins, through his heart and into his head. Inside of her domain, Gaia''s body now reformed. She was kneeling on the ground, staying still like a statue. The grass around her was waving around happily, as if excited to see her.


    As Ryan thought, her body took up most of the domain. Ryan didn''t even know if she would be able to stand here properly, considering that the dirt below her feet took up about a bit of space as well. Though, she didn''t seem to mind all too much, simply sitting there happy and serene. But even so, she still quickly came back out of the domain, having just gone in there to show Ryan that it was fine.


    With a smile, Ryan watched her body come back together, as a system message appeared next to him.


    <hr>


    [The -Spirit Domain- Skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    Maximus and Gaia''s domains expanded slightly into all directions, though not particularly much, after the skill reached level 6. But more importantly, this message did remind Ryan of something else. He had to take a look at Gaia''s status window. It hadn''t been available until now, but it should be ready for him to access at this point.


    Just as he thought so, a deep green system window popped up in front of his eyes.


    <hr>


    [Gaia]


    [Garden Golem | Level - 1]


    [MP - 30.5]


    [Stats]


    -[Intuition  0.71]


    -[Mana - 0.81]


    -[Naturalism - 0.76]


    -[Sociability - 0.64]


    -[Spirituality - 0.83]


    [Skills]


    -[Garden Golem''s Division | Level - 1]


    -[Garden Golem''s Eye | Level - 1]


    -[Golem''s Garden | Level - 1]


    <hr>


    Ryan looked through the information in front of him. The first thing he noticed was how high Gaia''s MP was - it was higher than both Ryan''s own MP or even Maximus'' AP, and this was just her state at level 1. But then, the next surprising part was that Gaia had no physical stats at all. Actually, most of them, beside one, were the exact same as the ones that Ryan had, so the ''Garden Golem'' was a magical class.


    But there was also the ''Naturalism'' stat, an incredibly rare one that appeared only in a specific type of known classes. It referred to how close one was to nature and how well the world around you reacted to your presence. It was thought that it related to the concept of the ''Green Thumb'', and that those with a higher naturalism stat could raise healthier plants more easily.


    That being the case, Ryan was more interested in those three skills right now, and he pulled up the first in the list.


    <hr>


    [Garden Golem''s Division]


    [Level - 1]  [Proficiency - 0%]


    [Allows the user to split off parts of their body to act independently to a degree]


    [Effect - Create up to two sub-Golems]


    <hr>


    "Huh... this is a passive skill? That..." Ryan looked over at Gaia, a bit surprised, "Could you show me what that means?"


    Gaia didn''t hesitate for even a moment, as some of the rocks on her torso started rumbling and moving around. Two lumps of rock fell off her body onto the rug, and before Ryan knew it, stood up. The lumps shaped themselves into smaller versions of Gaia. Though, they were a bit thinner and had proportionally longer arms and legs, even if not by much. And each of them was just a little shorter than Maximus was. Looking at Gaia, she now had two lumps missing from her body, but considering her size, it didn''t seem to make all too much of a difference right now.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    With a light smile on his face, Ryan moved closer to the two ''sub-golems'' as they were just standing there. They were almost cute standing next to Gaia and Maximus like that. Curiously, as the two sub-golems climbed back onto Gaia''s body, Ryan looked at the skill window.


    Considering that the ''Effect'' section specified the ''two'', it was possible that this would increase as the skill''s level went up. But either way, that was something that they would have to see about in the future, and for now, Ryan pulled up the info of the next skill.


    <hr>


    [Garden Golem''s Eye]


    [Level - 1]  [Proficiency - 0%]


    [Allows the user to see the information of applicable plants]


    [Effect - Gardener''s Eye]


    [Cost - 2 MP]  [Cooldown - 1 Minute]


    <hr>


    This one seemed more straightforward. It was an appraisal-type skill. At this level, it wouldn''t be able to show much information, but then again, Ryan had never seen this specific skill before, and appraisal skills were pretty rare so, ironically, there wasn''t a ton of specific data about them. Either way, it was exciting and fun, so Ryan couldn''t wait to ask Gaia to try it out on the balcony later. But before then, he had to figure out what the last skill did.


    <hr>


    [Golem''s Garden]


    [Level - 1]  [Proficiency - 0%]


    [After establishing a space as the user''s Garden, it will receive benefits according to this skill. At the same time, the user''s body will be affected by what is grown in said garden.]


    [Effect - +5% Growth Speed]


    <hr>


    "Oh!" Ryan wasn''t able to hold back his surprise and curiosity. This one was a caretaker-type skill! After specifying and choosing a valid space, people with this type of skill could exert some kind of control. The exact type of control was different depending on the class and exact skill, but usually, like in this case, the space would receive a number of benefits based on the user, and the user would receive benefits in return.


    And before he was able to make the suggestion, Gaia reacted first and a window appeared in front of Ryan.


    <hr>


    [You have received a new Quest!]


    [Gaia''s Garden]


    [Gaia needs a Garden in order to use her abilities to the fullest. Please find her an adequate space]


    [Conditions ¨C find a Garden that Gaia is satisfied with]


    [On Success ¨C Random Selection of Seeds for the Garden]


    [On Failure ¨C Gaia''s disappointment]


    <hr>


    With a smile on his face, excited to see the quest, Ryan got up from the ground. He looked at Maximus and Gaia, smiling at them both.


    "Well, in that case, let''s check out the balcony first."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Richie walked through the roads of the Channel, pearls of sweat dripping down his forehead. He was called here by the company he got a job offer from for some sort of orientation meeting. Being an Awakened, and a Technomancer at that, probably meant that they wanted to put him to work as soon as they could. Though, of course, he didn''t really mind. That just meant he could get paid sooner.


    But the annoying part was that a ton of the roads around the building were locked down. During that villain attack last weekend, there was so much damage done that it messed up basically all public transport. There''ll be construction going on here for months. The fact it was so hot right now really wasn''t helping either.


    "Oh gods, I thought it was supposed to be kind of chilly today," Richie groaned, loosening his tie to let some air into his button-up. Peeking under his jacket, half his shirt was completely drenched in sweat. And he was even seeing things, he could swear there was something moving under his shirt. He tried to grab at it, but there was nothing.


    "Uhm... sir?" someone stepped up in front of Richie, and the gnome looked up at them surprised, "We found that the structural integrity of the nearby buildings has been compromised, could we ask you to vacate the area?"


    "Hm?" Richie stared at the person, for some reason taking a while to really register what they were saying. They were looking at him with an almost disgusted expression, and Richie awkwardly nodded his head, "Oh... oh yeah, right, for sure..."


    Moving along, he continued walking on the sidewalk. Was it getting hotter? Richie took off his jacket, folding it over his arms. At the edge of the area that he was supposed to leave, there was a small convenience store. Richie still had plenty of time, so he rushed into the store and headed straight for the fridges. He pulled out one of the chilled bottles of water, opening it and chugging the contents.


    It didn''t take long until the bottle was empty, and he grabbed the next. It was helping, but it wasn''t even close to enough. The freezers caught his eye, and he quickly grabbed one of the cups of crushed ice, holding it against his forehead. That was much, much, better.


    "Yo, dude, be careful," the pimply teenager behind the counter called out to Richie, "If you bleed on those, you gotta pay for ''em. You need some paper towels?"


    Confused, Richie turned over toward them, "Huh? Bleed? What are you..."


    As he spoke, he started to feel a slight coppery taste in his mouth. Richie put down the cup of ice and touched his finger to his nose, still holding his jacket in his other hand. When he pulled his fingers back, he saw dark red blood on there. Actually, it was a bit too dark for blood, black. Just then, he noticed an almost rotten taste accompanying the blood''s copper, as his stomach began to churn.


    "D-Do you guys have a restroom?"


    The teen slowly nodded his head, pointing to the corner of the store. Quickly, Richie rushed over and stepped into the small single-person restroom. He placed his jacket onto the closed toilet seat, and then stepped up to the mirror.


    The dark blood flowing from his nose stuck out only more on his sickly pale skin. But it wasn''t just the blood, the veins on his neck and forehead were dark and bulging. Along with his heartbeat, they were pulsating. No, they were writhing.


    As if triggered by the realization, a deep, visceral pain coursed through his body, starting from his chest. It was like something had burrowed its way into his body, like dozens of worms digging their way through his veins. Anxiously, Richie pulled open his button-up shirt that had already gone translucent from sweat. The same as on his face and neck, dark veins were bulging all over his chest.


    Before he could even react properly, he felt a stinging in his eye. Glancing back at the mirror, he noticed blood flowing down his cheeks like pained tears.


    "W-What the hell is..."


    The sentence was interrupted by an animalistic retching, as if had bitten into a piece of rotten meat, and maggots were now spreading around and filling his mouth. Though Richie was fighting against it with his whole body, Richie vomited into the sink. It was a black, viscous liquid, like some kind of thick ink. But what was even worse was that it looked like that whole ink was made of disgusting, thin black worms. As he grabbed his cheek, he could feel some of those moving threads still clinging to his cheek.


    Richie lost the strength in his legs and fell down onto the ground. He vomited again, covering the ground in those rotten, black threads. They clung to his fingers, trying to climb back up. Pulling back, Richie tried to get back, but the threads were faster than him. Moving along underneath his shirt, dyeing it in a foul black, they climbed back up onto him. Instinctively, Richie knew what was about to happen. The tendrils climbed up his neck and forced their way back inside his throat.


    Richie could feel them force their way down his throat.


    He grabbed at the threads, trying to pull them back out, but when he did it felt like he was tugging on exposed nerve-ends, feeling a disgusting pain that made him shrivel back completely. But not all of the threads were making their way back inside. In general, the dark, inky mass was growing larger, as if the threads were becoming longer and intertwining further with every second.


    It didn''t take long until they covered the whole ground, and glancing at the sink, the parts from there were already climbing up the mirror and walls. Richie watched as the entire small restroom was covered in these threads, as if he was about to be devoured by a black hole.


    And then, when not an iota of light could be seen, everything went silent. The singing pain all over Richie''s body was getting worse and worse.


    The blackness was closing in on him.


    He was scared and exhausted. Richie barely clung to consciousness.


    As his eyes went blank, and the tendrils forced their way into him even if it meant digging their way through his skin and muscles, the blackness won.


    And then, Richie stood back up.


    He pushed himself off the ground, straightening his tie. After checking his face in the mirror a few times, Richie picked up the neatly folded jacket off the toilet seat and put it back on.


    Practicing his smile, Richie''s eyes glanced down at his chest, and the silver sparrow pin that adorned it.


    He should hurry. At this rate, he would be late for the orientation meeting.

 57 - The Party (Start of Book 2)

    As it tightened around his neck, the noose-like piece cut off Ryan''s breath. For a moment he panicked, pushing his fingers in-between the fabric and his neck, quickly forcing it back open before staring at the perpetrator with a deep glare.


    "Showing your true colours now, huh? And here I thought I could trust you," Ryan barked out, as the man across from him just let out a scoffed laugh.


    "A bit dramatic, aren''t we? I get that you don''t want to go to the party, but it''s good for you. Just see it as training for your Sociability stat," Runar replied, helping Ryan loosen the necktie that he accidentally pulled a bit too tight.


    When the tie was properly in place, Ryan looked down at his body and let out a loud groan, "Do I really have to wear all this? I''m already sweating buckets in my fuckin'' underwear."


    "Don''t worry, I thought of that," with a smug expression, Runar patted his nephew on the shoulder. The waistcoat that he was wearing lit up for a moment as the patterns sewn into it activated. The light soon faded, being replaced by a quite tangible effect. The heat that Ryan was feeling just moments earlier practically vanished as he was instead met with a cooling sensation as if he was standing in front of the open freezer.


    "Oh shit, alright... that''s better!" with a slight grin, Ryan looked back up at his uncle, "Seriously, having a mage in the family really comes in useful sometimes, huh?"


    "Hah, don''t expect to get these kinds of benefits forever," Runar shook his head, grabbing a small credit-card sized slab from the table next to him, pushing it into the waistcoat''s pocket, "Just keep this in here, it should have enough mana in it to last you until... 6am? I doubt you''ll be out that long, but better safe than sorry."


    "Can I keep wearing this after tonight? It''s so... pleasant," letting out a relieved sigh, Ryan sat down on a chair, quickly scooping up a bit of the fried rice that was in the bowl in front of him.


    As he ate, Runar quickly came over with a towel that he pushed into Ryan''s collar to make sure he didn''t make a mess of himself just before heading out.


    "... You know I''m not a kid, right?"


    "Yeah, but you eat like one. Plus, this suit was pretty expensive, not even mentioning the custom enchantments I put on it."


    "Enchantments? Plural? There''s more than just the cooling thing?" Curiously, Ryan raised a brow, as Runar nodded his head slowly.


    "The jacket and trousers have defensive enchantment. It''s limited though, and once all the mana placed into them runs out, it''s just like any other suit," Runar explained as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, "And this one is pretty important. Since it looks like the shadows are using corruption pretty actively right now, I made this to detect most forms of corruption and curses in general. Basically, if it turns black, just call me."


    "Hm... got it," Ryan replied as he continued eating, already not paying too much attention. He was glancing at his phone. This didn''t get past Runar either.


    "Still haven''t heard from her?"


    Ryan hesitantly shook his head, "Not from her, no... Yanna''s been sending me updates, but she hasn''t left her room at all. She let us in when Modak and I came over to see her, but she wasn''t talking all too much."


    "Do you think she''ll be alright?"


    Ryan looked over at his uncle, unsure what to say, "I don''t... I think so? Or rather, I hope so. Like, her birth mother suddenly showing up without warning couldn''t have been an easy experience for Silvia. She hasn''t told us much, but it doesn''t sound like shit was easy for her before she started living with her current... her actual family."


    "I could look into it for you if you want," Runar pointed out, sitting down on a chair near Ryan.


    "... Don''t act like you don''t know already. There''s no way you didn''t run some kind of background check on them."


    Surprised, Runar raised his brows, "How did you...?"


    "I don''t know, isn''t it kind of obvious that you''d do that?"


    "... How high is your intuition stat again?"


    "It''s 1.32 right now," Ryan replied, scooping the rest of the rice into his mouth before wiping the corners of his mouth with the towel Runar gave to him. His uncle groaned lightly and rubbed the bridge of his nose.


    "Fine, whatever. Yeah, of course I did a background check on them, how could I not? And yes, I know what happened on paper, but police reports can''t exactly tell a life story," Runar pointed out, "I didn''t even know that Modak had no mana at all. I knew he had ''Mana Rejection Disorder'', but I didn''t know that it went that far."


    Ryan glared over at his uncle, "I hope the checks came out clean enough for you."


    "Yes, obviously. Otherwise I wouldn''t have even let you bring them down to the sanctuary."


    "Mhm, sure," Ryan stood up from his seat, "Either way... I don''t want to know. I mean, I do, if it could help me be there for Silvia better, but if she decides not to tell us then that''s just how it is. It''s none of my business to know something she doesn''t want me to know."


    "If you say so," Runar glanced over at the clock on the wall, "Yamada should be there with the car by now. You don''t want to be late, right?"


    Ryan groaned, "I thought you didn''t even want me to register in the first place, so why the hell do I have to go to this stupid newbie party?"


    "Because, now that you are a registered Awakened, we might as well use this opportunity to let you meet a few more people and build more contacts. There''s always a handful of people at these sorts of things that are worth getting to know," Runar explained, as he already has multiple times over the past couple of days whenever Ryan said he didn''t want to go, "Plus, you''ve been flip-flopping about going all week, so now I''ve made the decision for you, as you asked me to. So just shut up and get down there."


    Muttering something to himself that Runar was skilfully pretending not to hear, Ryan walked out into the hallway, "Guys, we''re leaving!"


    As his voice was carried through the flat, the sound of three sets of footsteps could be heard. The first was a particularly quiet tapping, almost being drowned out by the other two. The second was a lot heavier, thudding on the wooden floorboard and making them creak. And the third, the fastest by far, didn''t belong to a spirit like the first two, but instead to the young boy that has been stuck to Ryan like glue for the past couple of days.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Wait, already? But you said you''d show me how to build one of those small knight models!" Liam complained, running up to Ryan. He ruffled the boy''s hair and smiled down at him.


    "You were busy with your homework, so I figured we could just do it tomorrow. We can just build figurines all day then, alright?"


    Trying to push Ryan''s hand away a bit annoyed, Liam began to grumble, "Fine... But if we don''t do it tomorrow, you''re fired!"


    "... Can knights be fired?"


    "Yeah of course! Usually that means they''ll be rid of their head, but I''ll make an exception for you," Liam pointed out with an almost smug smile, proudly proclaiming how generous he was being. With a laugh, Ryan looked down at Maximus who had just arrived, watching as the spirit fell apart into wisps of red light that were quickly pulled into Ryan''s body.


    "Sure, sure," he replied, peering over Liam''s head as Gaia walked around the corner. As she approached, Ryan mentally took notice of the metallic sprouts appearing all over her body as well as the bits of moss and ivy. These were the plants currently growing in the ''garden'' that Gaia had chosen; the balcony. Though the only plants that counted as part of the garden right now were the copper wildflowers that Ryan planted as well as the moss and ivy growing at the side of the building. There were other plants scattered around the edge of the balcony, but they were already old and half-withered since nobody had taken care of them properly for a while. So, instead of keeping them around, Ryan had helped Gaia take them all down.


    Taking that opportunity, Runar had allowed him to properly remodel the balcony into a small garden, so they ordered everything that they needed for that. Really, having the money to do all that was really quite pleasant...


    Either way, Ryan had been trying to properly plan the garden out with Gaia over the past couple of days, so they were going to grab everything they needed from some store on Monday so that they could start with the remodelling process properly. Until then, the selection of seeds that Ryan got after completing Gaia''s quest to help her find a ''garden'' was just held back so that they could properly plant them later on.


    Once Ryan had completed the quest, he got three small seed packets like the ones you could buy from basically anywhere. He really hadn''t expected something like that, since he thought that anything he could receive from quests were simply more parts to upgrade them and swap their parts out for better ones, but that didn''t seem to be the case. Instead, Ryan had another idea of what it could be.


    Similar to how Ryan was provided the parts for the spirits by his class, he figured that it was possible that Gaia''s class could provide her with seeds for her garden. And since Ryan was Gaia''s ''keeper'', that was simply extended to him through the form of quests. She would probably have been given those seeds as a reward for finding her own garden anyway, and Ryan figured that she was going to keep being given seeds at certain points.


    But whichever the case, Ryan would see that in the future. For now, the three seed packets were actually kept in Gaia''s domain. Ryan slowly looked inward and read the labels of the three packets.


    ''Blue Mint'', ''Blood Roses'', and ''Glass Tulips''. He was able to look up some info about them online, but they were either so rare that it was almost impossible to to find anything about them, or, in the case of the Blood Rose, actually extinct. Runar was actually pretty interested in them and said that the family should be able to look into them, considering that it seemed like all of the seeds had some mana in them, so they should have some unique properties if observed closely.


    None of that mattered right now, though, as Ryan still had to leave, no matter how much he wanted to procrastinate. Once Gaia was close enough, she fell apart into a flow of green threads that quickly poured back into Ryan.


    "Alright... I''m heading out, then," he said, even if a bit dejected. After making his way out of the flat and down the stairs, Ryan quickly spotted Yamada''s car. He pulled the door open and sat down in the passenger seat. The demon smiled at Ryan, as he hesitantly held his hands in front of his chest, "Erm... Hello, how... wait, what was it? How are... you?"


    With a surprised expression, Yamada smiled back at Ryan after his attempt to sign to her. She soon returned it, though she tried to do it slowly so that Ryan could keep up, "I''m good, thanks. How are you?" she responded, and Ryan smiled as he tried to make sure he understood correctly.


    "I''m good... too... thank you."


    Nodding at Ryan with a smile, Yamada pulled out of the parking spot, quickly starting to drive down the busy roads of Oldtown. Though, Yamada was able to drive pretty fast, circumventing congestions in traffic and moving through gaps in between cars that Ryan would usually feel were too tight, but she was able to do so without hesitation and without even making Ryan feel like he had to be scared.


    Though, since the car was completely silent right now, Ryan looked down at the back of his hand, where Tiar was currently practising some specific patterns that Ryan had been suggesting for them. Since symbiotes like Tiar weren''t really public knowledge, having them sway around on Ryan''s hand probably wasn''t the best idea. Of course, there were cases where those sorts of tattoos were a thing, so even if someone spotted Tiar moving, he could probably excuse it away, but he wanted to draw as little attention to them as possible.


    There were only really three ways for a tattoo to be moving. One, like in Fae''s case, the ''tattoo'' could just be an ability to manipulate the appearance of texture of their skin, allowing tattoo-like patterns to appear that might move around.


    Two, it could be a magically-applied tattoo that might act as some kind of spell, curse, or boon. These were more on the rare, and incredibly expensive, side of things, though.


    And then, there was the third way, which was the excuse that Ryan would go with if anyone saw Tiar move tonight; it was the effect of a skill. Since Ryan had a ''unique'' class, as far as everyone else was concerned at least, he could just excuse it away like that pretty easily. But if possible, he would prefer it if Tiar didn''t pull too much attention, and people though they were just a simple tattoo. That whole place was going to be swarming with Awakened of numerous different classes, so it was possible, even if unlikely, that someone might have the ability to either tell that Ryan was lying, or that Tiar was a living being instead of just a tattoo. And he didn''t really want to take the risk of either of that happening.


    "Are you ready to go, bud?" Ryan asked, ask two quick patterns appeared on the back of Ryan''s hand, one after another; a smiley and an exclamation mark.


    " :D ! " Tiar replied, before quickly returning to their practice. They were actually doing a pretty good job at staying still. Luckily, they only had to focus on Ryan''s hand, anyway, since his sleeves were covering up the rest of the patterns on his arm. Taking a deep breath, Ryan figured he should also mentally prepare for the party. Going to these things completely on his own wasn''t something he particularly liked, but maybe it was going to be a little fun after all. If it was horrible, he could always just leave early if he felt like it and then just deal with Runar''s annoying lecturing.


    After a while of driving all the way to the Channel, where the party was happening, Yamada stopped the car. Ryan quickly signed goodbye, hoping that he used the right sign, and then stepped out. He looked at the Awakened Centre with a long groan, though he was seeing plenty of people make their way inside just as he was. These were also freshly awakened people, so Ryan should try his best to be nice to them. He took a deep breath and made his way into the building, where a reception area for the guests was already set up.


    After showing them his Awakened Licence, Ryan was let in. His stomach was already grumbling because of how hungry he was... he hoped there was some good food already set out that he could just dig into. Or at least, that was his plan, but when he stepped inside, he was met with something deeply annoying.


    "Urgh... can''t you be more careful?! Do you know how expensive this suit was?" some guy yelled out, his voice immediately sounding ridiculously stuck-up. Ryan glanced over into the direction that the voice was coming from, seeing a moment that he really would love not to have to deal with.


    A guy in a dark navy suit and slicked-back blonde hair, yelling at a young woman that seemed to be some kind of waiter for tonight. She had already pulled back and had lowered her head, but that guy, a guest, wasn''t letting off. Ryan could already smell the scent of food, and his whole body wanted to pull him toward its source, but he wasn''t able to take even a single step away from the pair. Others were walking past them as well, perfectly fine and not particularly paying attention to what was going on. It seemed to be almost normal to them.


    With an annoyed groan, Ryan looked away from the main hall with all the food, quickly approaching the guy yelling at the employee.

 58 - Surprise Guest

    "Seriously... and I only just got here!" an obnoxiously loud voice filled the space, as the owner of said voice yelled at the person in front of him. He was patting down his chest as the employee, one of the servers working at the party tonight, who anxiously scrambled to try and help. But as the server brought a towel to the man''s chest, he just swatted them away, "Don''t touch me!"


    "I-I''m sorry, sir, I will-"


    "You''ll do what? Just go get me your manager, I swear to the gods..."


    Ryan was already feeling annoyed just hearing him say that. Douches like that came to the caf¨¦ in droves, but they never got less annoying to deal with.


    "Yo, dude, calm down, will you?" Ryan stepped up to the two, almost pushing himself in-between them, "What''s the issue?"


    "What''s it to you?" taken aback, the yelling guy stared down Ryan, looking him up and down. His brows were furrowed into such a deep frown that Ryan was surprised this guy was able to keep his eyes open at all.


    "I''m just askin'', man. I saw something was wrong, and figured I''d come and help out."


    "... This absolute- She spilled some drinks on me."


    Ryan glanced down at the guy''s shirt, seeing a large wet spot. But beside being wet, there didn''t seem to be anything there; neither was there any discolouration, nor was there the smell of alcohol. And before Ryan could even ask about it, the server stuttered something out.


    "I-It was just water, I promise! And I''m so sorry, I promise I''ll try to-"


    "What are you still doing here, huh? I told you to get me your manager!"


    Ryan saw the jarringly angry expression on the young man''s face and was completely taken aback when he saw a flash of blue pop up in his eyes, "Oi, hold up! The fuck do you think you''re doing? Are you trying to use a fucking skill right now because a guy spilled some water on you?"


    Instinctively, Ryan built himself up, straightening his back and pushing back his shoulders, making his own eyes flash red as he accessed Maximus'' domain. Of course, he had no intention of pulling him out, but just accessing the domain was enough to make his eyes flash. The red of Ryan''s eyes was reflected in the eyes of the man in front of him. Usually, people would at least pull back in surprise when Ryan acted like this, but the man in front of him did anything but. He seemed happy to oblige, and the light in his eyes returned, even stronger than before.


    "Do you even know how expensive this suit was? But now it''s ruined! Do you even know how important tonight is? I look like a complete idiot!"


    "Cool it. It''s water. And to be honest, I feel like you''re looking much more like an idiot because you''re yelling at someone over literally nothing," Ryan pointed out, glancing over into the open room while trying not to get too annoyed at the ''cheap suit'' comment. While the room was fairly empty right now, there were still some people moving to and from the main hall. All of  which were, of course, able to hear the commotion. That was a pretty easy way to get people like this to cool it. Making them realize that they were not, in fact, the centre of the universe and that other people actually existed tended to at least pull them out of the situation a bit.


    The blue of the young man''s eyes faded just a moment later as he realized that others were staring at him, "... Whatever. Just be careful next time."


    He tore the towel out of the server''s hand and started patting down the wet spot on his shirt as he turned around and left. Ryan rolled his eyes and looked back at the server, "You alright?"


    "I... I''m fine," the server nodded their head, "I''m so sorry, and thank you so much for the help..."


    "Don''t worry about it, shit happens. I work at a caf¨¦, and I once tripped and dropped a full, large chocolate Frappuccino and a slice of cherry cake on this girl in a white summer dress. And that wasn''t something that could be fixed by just letting it dry," Ryan laughed a bit, "Now, just... take a breather, and then keep working. Don''t let one asshole mess you up."


    The server quickly nodded their head, "Y-Yeah... thank you, really. I appreciate the help."


    "No worries, man. Just doing what felt right. Sorry for meddling, though," Ryan smiled, turning around to head into the main hall of the party while the server hurried back to work. Of course, as he was walking, Ryan could now feel the stares of the people around him himself. It was pretty annoying, and certainly not the best introduction he could have imagined, but it was better than being the other guy.


    As Ryan stepped into the main hall for the party, he looked around the room. Some music was playing, there was a bar set up, and plenty of food along the wall on the other side of the space. It was a lot of food, really. Ryan could already feel his stomach rumbling just at the sight of it.


    "... Might as well," he beelined to the tables and grabbed himself a plate. He hadn''t even heard of most of these things, but he figured that it didn''t matter too much. The Awakened Centre could surely afford some good food. After filling the plate to the point that it was hard to walk without it spilling over the side. Though, the food wouldn''t stay on the plate particularly long anyway, so it didn''t really matter.


    "Mister Aglecard! How wonderful to see you here," Aurora Carlyle, the person in charge of Ryan here at the Awakened Centre, quickly came walking over to him. Ryan hadn''t seen her since the day he went to the dungeon.


    "Well, I figured I might as well try to be social," he pointed out with a smile, glancing down at his plate, "The free food helps too."


    "That is always a nice bonus," Aurora agreed, nodding her head. As she did, the thin metallic strands that she had woven into her plumage waved around a bit. Once more, Ryan realized just how out of place he felt here. Just the fact he was wearing this clearly far-too-expensive suit was making him feel weird.


    "There''s more people here than I thought," Ryan looked around the room, "And everyone here awakened recently?"


    "In the past three months, yes. But it''s not only people from New Riverside, we also invite those from surrounding towns," Aurora explained, also taking a quick glance around her, "But it is true that there are a lot of promising individuals."


    "Hmm... that so?"


    "We even have a special guest today. We always try to reach out to them, and a few members may show up to fraternize with the newly Awakened, but today we have someone particularly special from the Magic Tower here! She should be arriving quite soon."


    The moment Ryan heard Aurora''s words, shivers ran down his spine. He had a bad feeling about this. With his luck, it was going to be-


    "Miss Boreard!" someone yelled out, almost screeching the name of the Magic Tower''s mistress in excitement as Ryan''s stomach dropped.


    "Oh gods," Ryan almost choked on his food, hitting his chest a few times to help himself swallow. Concerned, Aurora looked at him, holding her wings in front of her body anxiously.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "Mister Aglecard, are you okay?"


    "Y-Yeah, I''m fine..." nervously looking around, Ryan looked toward the other side of the room, where Alicia Ethel Boreard stood, greeting the people of the crowd that had formed around her, "So... it''s the mistress of the tower? I guess you could call that a ''special guest''..."


    With an almost smug nod, Aurora peeked over at the elf, "I don''t quite understand why she suddenly chose to attend, but the whims of powerful mages are hard to grasp in the first place."


    As Ryan stared at Alicia, he noticed her glance in his direction as well. But after a quick wink toward him, she quickly turned back to the people directly around her.


    "Yeah... I sure do wonder..." Ryan replied, though he hoped that he was wrong. He had no interest in getting involved with that woman. Sure, she did help out Modak a ton, and would literally change the course of his life completely by having him work at the magic tower, and she also helped find the last of Gaia''s fragments... With a loud groan, Ryan stuffed some food into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. Before he could do anything, he noticed that Alicia had stepped through the crowd, and began to approach him.


    Sighing loudly, Ryan looked at Aurora, "Sorry, I guess I gotta say ''hi'' or something..."


    With a dejected expression that clearly confused Aurora, as she was expecting something more like excitement or at least disinterest rather than how Ryan was reacting right now, he wiped the corners of his mouth.


    As she stepped up in front of Ryan, a smile formed on Alicia''s face. Not the fake kind that she''s been wearing since she entered the room, but a genuine one.


    "Ryan, what a surprise to see you here!"


    "Likewise," Ryan replied, putting on a blatantly fake smile. It was hard to keep up a proper one while so many people were staring at him.


    "How are you doing? I hope everything was resolved properly," Alicia pointed out, and Ryan slowly nodded. He started tapping the index finger of his left hand on the stuffed plate of food he was holding, and Alicia quickly glanced down. Seeing the pattern on his hand, plus the amount of food he was carrying, she probably figured it out by now.


    And as Alicia glanced back up at Ryan''s face, he closed his eyes and smiled a bit more strongly, this time trying to access Gaia''s domain, though still without pulling her out of it. For a brief moment before his eyes closed fully, Ryan''s eyes began to glow in a deep green, which he hoped Alicia would understand as a sign that they properly got the last fragment as well.


    "It all worked out in the end," Ryan replied, opening his eyes again with the glow now gone, and Alicia''s smile grew even larger.


    "That is truly wonderful to hear!" she replied, and Ryan was a bit taken aback by how genuine she sounded. Considering that she chose not to help out, Ryan thought she was more calculating and cold than this behind that constant smile of hers.


    Letting out a slightly annoyed groan, realizing that he maybe overreacted last week, Ryan slightly looked away from the elven mage, "I also wanted to thank you for your help."


    "Don''t mention it!"


    Aurora looked at Ryan a bit taken aback, "Do you two happen to know each other?"


    "Ah... yeah, I guess so. She''s a... family friend, or something?"


    Alicia smiled and nodded, "I''ve been working with his family quite closely for a while now."


    Looking at the young man standing next to him, Aurora instinctively tilted her head to the side, "So you were related to the-"


    Interrupted by a gratingly annoying voice that Ryan was hoping to have heard enough of already, Aurora turned her head toward the young man that approached.


    "Miss Boreard, it is an honour to make your acquaintance!" he exclaimed loudly, giving a courteous bow to Alicia, "My name is Michael Rivers, a newly awakened Hydromancer!"


    Alicia looked over at him, raising her brow curiously as she looked him up and down, "Oh? Is that so?"


    Michael almost flinched as Alicia spoke, but Ryan mostly just noticed that he had started frowning immediately. That same deep frown from earlier, like he was exaggeratedly angry. Even Ryan didn''t react that strongly, and all of his therapists said he had ''severe anger issues''. Was it alright to let this guy just walk around like this?


    "We were in the middle of a conversation," Ryan pointed out, trying to get Michael to bug off. Though, it didn''t seem to work.


    "I wasn''t talking to you."


    "Yeah, but I''m talking to you, so... how about you just take it easy?"


    "I-I''m just trying to introduce myself! That''s what this is for, isn''t it?"


    "Sure, but there''s a right and a wrong way to do that. You seem to regularly choose the wrong way to act."


    Clearly taken aback a bit, Michael flinched a bit and his frown only turned deeper, almost like he was trying to look at Ryan through his eyelashes, "Wh-What do you know? I didn''t do anything!"


    Ryan stared back at Michael, really starting to get annoyed by this guy, but before the situation could escalate further, Alicia clapped her hands together.


    "Now, now, don''t be like that, you two! I''m sure everyone here wants to show off a bit and look cool in front of the others, so he''s definitely not the only one," she pointed out, placing her palm onto her cheek, "Though, that does give me a pretty fun idea. It was Carlyle, correct?"


    Alicia looked at Aurora, who hesitantly nodded her head, "Yes, Miss Boreard. I just also want to say, it is a pleasure to finally meet you."


    "I can only say the same in turn," Alicia laughed slightly, "Well, would you mind if I hijacked tonight''s entertainment for a bit?"


    Though she asked, it was clear that Alicia only did so out of very surface-level politeness, as before Aurora was able to respond, the elf had snapped her fingers. Bubbles immediately rose up into the air, gathering in the top of the room. And then, as Alicia spoke, her voice was strengthened considerably and filled the whole room, getting the attention of every single person here.


    "Welcome, young Awakened! Sorry to interrupt your conversations, but I had a suggestion to make," Alicia explained, her smile growing broader, "I''m sure you are all excited to see what your compatriots can do! To see the magic, and aura, and abilities of those that awakened with you. So, I would love to call upon anyone that wants to show off a bit to present us with a quick display!"


    Aurora, in a panic, stepped up right next to Alicia, "Miss Boreard, please, that is not-"


    "Don''t worry, it has already been discussed with your supervisors," Alicia winked at the strigan, who quickly grew relieved, "Not to mention, if anything goes wrong, I''ll be here to take care of it."


    Ryan mentally cursed at his uncle for making him come here, "Are you serious?"


    With a curious smile, Alicia replied, "Very serious. Now, would you mind going first? I would love to see that new skill of yours in action."


    Taken aback, Aurora turned toward Ryan, "New skill? Have you already reached level 10?"


    Already annoyed, Ryan clicked his tongue, trying not to directly answer Aurora''s question, instead looking back at Alicia, "Isn''t it pretty bad manners to talk about other people''s business?"


    "Now, don''t be like that."


    Ryan frowned, annoyed. What the hell was her deal all of a sudden? Rather, how did she even know about Ryan''s new skill..? Did Runar tell her? If so, then she should have known that they got Gaia''s last fragment and that Ryan bonded with a symbiote. But he doubted that Runar would have just told her, so... how did she know? She was at Modak''s place while everything was going down in the Channel, so she couldn''t have seen Ryan use the skill either.


    "I-If he doesn''t want to start... Then I can!" Michael spoke up, practically shaking. But... Ryan was a bit confused. Michael seemed almost desperate. He was shaking, clenching his fist, and still keeping up that deep frown.


    Alicia quickly shook her head, "I don''t think that''s a good idea. I will set up a barrier later, you can show off a bit then, alright? If I remember right... you had quite little control over your own magic, correct?"


    Turning around, the mistress of the magic tower looked back at the crowd that had gathered, "Now, would anyone else like to start, then? You, girl with that pink ribbon... you were a magic archer, correct?"


    Quickly, the focus turned away from both Ryan and Michael, as that girl was called on first. With a wave of her hand, Alicia seemed to create some targets, and even somehow procured a bow that the girl could use.


    Ryan let out a sigh of relief that he wasn''t forced to show off his skill, after all. It was one thing for a common class to show off, and another for Ryan to show a completely unique skill for a class that publicly has never existed before. He didn''t know who else could be here, or if there was someone from Bluesky or the White Shadow Society watching, so he would prefer to keep those abilities hidden as much as he could. Though, Ryan did feel a bit bad for Michael, being shot down like that. Being told that he had no control over his magic by someone of Alicia''s stature must have hurt.


    Though, what Ryan didn''t expect was to turn toward Michael and see a literal flood of tears stream out of his eyes. Rather, calling those ''tears'' was wrong. An impossible amount of liquid poured out of Michael''s eyes as if he had two faucets in his eyes, as he was desperately trying to stop it.


    "No, no, not again... H-He said my suit would be ruined if it got wet, I..." Michael cried quietly, trying to press his hands against his eyes.


    "... Huh?"

 59 - Crying Rivers

    Michael Rivers cried rivers. And Ryan was more than surprised at the sight. Rather, he was quite shocked. Michael had been acting so stuck-up earlier, but now, he had ridiculous streams of water flowing out of his eyes that were really just physically impossible.


    Looking around, it seemed like nobody else had noticed, since Michael was trying his best to hide it and everyone was focused on the show that Alicia was putting on.


    "Uh... dude, you alright?" Ryan asked, looking at the young man next to him. Michael slowly nodded, pressing his palms onto his eyes.


    "I-I''m fine, nothing''s wrong, I-" he replied, sounding as if he wanted to convince himself just as much as he wanted to convince Ryan. With a long sigh, Ryan pushed the rest of the food left on his plate into his mouth and then pushed Michael along. He didn''t particularly feel like staying in here with that whole commotion right now either.


    "Wh-What are you doing?" Michael stuttered out, but Ryan just clicked his tongue and continued pushing him toward the door on the other side of the room.


    "Just shut up and walk."


    Though unintentional, Ryan sounded pretty rough right now and like he was angry at Michael. If someone else heard him say it, it would probably sound like he was bullying Michael, who was leaving behind a literal trail of tears on the ground. Sure, Ryan was a bit annoyed at the situation, but basically the only thing that hadn''t annoyed him tonight was the food. Either way, intentional or not, Ryan''s tone made Michael comply rather quickly, and the two soon made their way to the men''s washroom.


    "Come on, take off the jacket for now," Ryan instructed, and Michael anxiously did as told. He still hadn''t stopped crying yet, but the streams coming out of his eyes seemed to be a bit weaker. When Michael took off his jacket, Ryan immediately spotted the large spots of wet all over Michael''s shirt, not just the front parts that seemed to be Michael''s focus. And the person himself quickly noticed it too as he looked into the mirror.


    "Oh, gods... no, no, I ruined it, I... what am I supposed to do?"


    "... What do you mean with ''ruined it''? It''s just water and sweat, it''s not a big deal," Ryan replied as he folded the jacket and placed it onto the counter for now. Luckily this place was pretty high-class so this wasn''t like a regular public restroom, but more like something you would see in an expensive restaurant.


    Michael nervously looked back at Ryan, "But these shirts are ruined when they get wet... right?"


    "What? No, that''s ridiculous. Who told you that?" with a confused frown, Ryan pulled some paper towels out of the dispenser and held them up to Michael, who carefully grabbed them trying to dry his eyes as the streams of water slowly faded out.


    "My... my brother told me. I tried to have that server call him earlier but I think I sounded rude? I get so stressed when I try not to cry..."


    With that, Ryan had the last clue to connect all the dots. With a loud groan, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Is your brother that server''s manager?"


    "Y-Yeah... I didn''t know what to do, so I figured I should ask him... I really need today to work out..."


    Ryan looked Michael up and down for a moment. He was pretty tall, but now that Ryan actually looked at him properly, he did look a little young. Maybe three or four years younger than him. The suit didn''t seem to fit all that well either, like some kind of hand-me-down, "Do you always cry... this much?"


    Michael replied with a slow nod, "Yeah... I''ve always had a lot of mana, even before I awakened... And then when I awakened as a Hydromancer, this started happening..."


    "So when you were glaring at everyone earlier that was just you trying not to cry?"


    Immediately, the young man flinched as he looked back at Ryan, clearly close to tearing up again, "Did it look like I was glaring? I-I''m sorry, I really didn''t mean to..."


    "Don''t worry, it''s fine. Just... maybe go apologize to that server later as well, okay?"


    "... Okay."


    Ryan grabbed a few more paper towels, helping Michael pat down the soaked, dripping front of his shirt, "But I guess this is what Alicia meant when she said you can''t control your magic?"


    "I... I have a really low Spirituality stat..."


    "How low?"


    "... 0.3."


    Almost startled by that number, Ryan stared at Michael, "Excuse me?"


    "I know...  but in return my mana stat was really high, when I awakened it was at 2.6!"


    "Excuse me?" Ryan repeated himself, even more shocked by that number. The average non-awakened person only had 0.2-0.3. Though low for the average magic class, Ryan''s 0.54 that he awakened with was already far above the norm. But Michal had basically five times what Ryan started with?


    "But... but how did Miss Boreard even know about that..? I tried so hard to hide it..."


    Ryan thought about it for a moment, but in the end, the answer was obvious, "She''s the magic tower''s mistress. She''s got her ways of figuring out how good someone is with magic."


    Michael nodded, slowly leaning over the sink to splash some water on his face, "I guess so... but now I don''t even have the chance to show her my magic, and it was such a good chance..."


    "Of course you can show her your magic, what do you mean?" Ryan replied, and Michael turned toward him, water dripping off his chin.


    "Huh?"


    "She just said she was going to have to put up a barrier first, not that you''re not allowed to show her," as if it were obvious, Ryan looked at the stunned Michael, who only seemed to be tearing up even more after the realization.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    With a loud groan he pushed his hands against his eyes, "Oh gods... I must look like a total idiot..."


    "Eh. Maybe. But who cares? I''m pretty sure Alicia is a lot more curiosity-driven than you might think," Ryan pointed out, "Just make sure to show off properly later and make a good impression on her."


    With a slow nod, wiping the big blobs of tears out of his eyes, Michael stood up straight, "Okay, got it!" he exclaimed, before looking down at his shirt, "And... you''re sure this isn''t ruined?"


    "Of course not. I''m sure everyone''s kind of making a mess of themselves while showing off their skills right now anyway, so something like a wet shirt won''t stand out."


    "Right," Michael took a few deep breaths and dried his face again, before taking his jacket and putting it back on, before coming to an awkward realization. He stared at Ryan nervously, "Uhm... sorry, but what was your name again?"


    With a slight scoff, he held forward his hand, "It''s Ryan."


    "Michael. It''s nice to meet you."


    "Likewise," Ryan replied, as the two made their way back to the main hall. After realizing that Michael was really just a young, anxious teen, Ryan figured that holding his behaviour against him wasn''t fair, considering that he clearly didn''t mean to get angry at that server. He just seemed really stressed out about not crying. Though, that did make Ryan just that much more annoyed at Michael''s brother. Telling someone that clearly sweats and cries literal buckets that a little bit of water would ruin their clothes felt kind of a bit too mean, especially on a day like this.


    Before long, the two stepped back into the area where the other awakened were taking turns showing off their skills. Some of them seemed kind of exciting, and seeing the skills in action was something completely new for Ryan as well. To some degree, he wanted to try and show off as well, but there really wasn''t any need for him to do that.


    He was a part of the Aglecard family now; having the position of ''Spirit Keeper'' meant that he wouldn''t ever financially struggle in the future. Rather, once Ryan chose his proper ''job'' in the family, he would receive a very decent salary and benefits. Even continuing to go to school seemed a bit useless at this point. Ryan didn''t need to show off; his future was basically already figured out. And he doubted that he would be able to find anyone worth ''recruiting'' here. Runar did mention that it wasn''t a bad idea for him to try and get some people around him that could help protect himself and the spirits, but he wasn''t quite sure about that yet.


    Even so, seeing everyone get so excited at seeing others use their skills, beside those few that were acting like they were above it all, standing at the edge of the room just silently observing, made Ryan feel like showing off too. No matter how cool their abilities were, Maximus and Gaia were far cooler than any of them. Even if they weren''t quite as flashy.


    "Oh? And here I thought you were running away," from right next to the door, Alicia''s laugh could be heard. Ryan turned toward her with an awkward expression.


    "Why would I? I''m not gonna show my skills, but that doesn''t mean that I can''t stay here," Ryan pointed out, and Alicia smiled at him. For some reason, that smile made him shiver.


    "Really? What a shame, I''m sure everyone would have loved to see the skills of a unique class," she said, making sure to emphasize those last two words to the point where plenty of the nearby people could overhear. Michael in particular, who was still standing next to Ryan, looked at him confused.


    "Unique class? You have a unique class?" he asked with utmost curiosity, as Ryan stared at the woman in front of him. But before he could even ask her what her deal was, more people gathered around him.


    "Seriously? I''ve never seen someone with a unique class before!"


    "What''s it called? What kind of skills do you have?"


    "Are you a physical type? Or a magic type maybe?"


    Taken aback by the sudden attention, Ryan glared at Alicia, before slowly answering some of the questions. At least, to the point that was publicly accessible.


    "My class is called ''Spirit Keeper'', and it''s a magic type class..." Ryan replied, trying not to get overwhelmed by the stares of the people around him, "Basically, I can form a connection with some spirits and then just... take care of them afterward, I guess."


    "What do you mean, ''take care of them''?" someone immediately wanted to know, and Ryan awkwardly looked around, trying to figure out what to do and what he could say.


    "I... really just help them do what they want, I guess? One of them really likes webtoons and novels and stuff, so I''m trying to put together a proper setup for him so he can use my computer, and the other one is like an earth- and plant-spirit and spends most of her time on our balcony garden," Ryan explained, not sure how vague he should be. But this was probably fine?


    "Could you show us?"


    And there it was. The question that Ryan didn''t want to answer. He was seeing Alicia''s curious smile, as if she eagerly wanted to know what choice Ryan was going to make.


    "Uhm... could you excuse me for a second? I''ll have to ask them first if they want to come out," Ryan said, immediately turning around and leaving the main hall. He stepped out of the building for a second to get some fresh air. Once he was outside, he quickly pulled out his phone and called his uncle.


    "Yo, what''s up? Did something happen?" Runar immediately asked as he answered, and Ryan let out a long sigh, not exactly sure how to answer that.


    "No? I mean, maybe, I guess? First of all, Alicia''s here," Ryan pointed out, and his uncle stayed silent for a few moments, giving Ryan the opportunity to continue, "Plus, she then started some kind of thing where everyone is showing off their skills for some reason, and loudly proclaimed I have a unique class to make everyone extra curious about me."


    "That..." Runar groaned loudly, "I''m really sorry about that, I didn''t think she would do something like that. Or, actually, I should have guessed... she always does stuff like this."


    "... She always messes with other people''s lives?"


    Runar seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then carefully answered, "She always does things that I can''t really understand, but she also always has her reasons. Alicia sees the world differently from the way we do."


    "Okay, sure, but like, shouldn''t I be keeping the Spirit Keeper class as secret as possible? Why would she be trying to make me show it off?"


    "About that... I don''t actually know if you need to keep it a secret. Honestly, just treat it like any other class. The people that are actually dangerous to you already know everything they need to about the class anyway. At this point, it might actually be better for you to be more public with it. If people know about you, it''s going to be a lot harder to mess with you so openly. Honestly... you could reason for any direction."


    "Well sure, but... you keep your level a secret, for example, and you were freaking out so much about me registering. The class is kind of a big deal, right?"


    "Yeah because it was new information that I didn''t expect, but at the end of the day, you are the Spirit Keeper, not me. No matter what the legacy of the class is, you were chosen for it. Just do whatever the hell you want. Of course, be smart about it, but I don''t think you need to treat it any different to other classes. If it helps you get closer to other Awakened, just use whatever you can."


    Ryan stayed silent for a few moments, "And... you think showing my skills to others could be useful?"


    "Yeah, why not? Networking is important. It''s not going to be everyone, but most of the people in there will reach the upper levels of their respective fields. It''s always good to know people, no matter what you choose to do later on."


    With a groan, Ryan rubbed the bridge of his nose, "For once, you''re actually making sense. Gods-dammit... Just... fine, I''ll try and figure out what to do. Thanks."


    "No problem. If you want to leave, I can send Yamada back to pick you up again, by the way. You don''t have to do this."


    "No, no, I''ll stay here," Ryan replied.


    "Well, if you say so. Just let me know, or text Yamada later. You got her number, right?"


    "Yeah, I do. See you later, man, I guess I should get back."


    "Alright, have fun!"


    Ryan hung up and sighed, looking inward at the domains of the two spirits, "What do you two think? Do you want to come out?"

 60 - Wrong

    "Are you sure you''re okay? We can push this back if you want..." concerned, Fae looked at the woman in front of her, but Silvia immediately shook her head.


    "No! Please, no, I was really excited for this," she explained with a smile on her face, reaching out and grabbing the changeling''s hand as the two of them walked down the road. From her hand, a wave of colour flooded out over Fae''s body, lingering on her cheeks like a blush.


    "I''m glad," Fae replied, squeezing the elf''s hand for a moment. The two looked at each other for a few moments, but soon stepped into the restaurant in front of them. It didn''t take long for them to be seated, and a waiter came up and handed them their menus.


    "You said you''ve been here before, right?"


    Fae immediately nodded her head, glancing up from the menu, "Yeah, but just once. It''s really good though! They''re trying hard to make sure that the food is traditionally Gardian!"


    "I love Gardian food."


    "I know, that''s why I invited you here," Fae smirked, watching as Silvia''s face turned a bright pink while she wasn''t able to stop herself from grinning lightly.


    "And I''m very glad you did," Silvia replied, "I''m really sorry for not reaching out a lot over the past couple days though, it''s been a little..."


    "No, no, it''s fine. I guess I did get a little lonely... but you don''t have to force yourself to reach out when you''re not feeling up to it."


    "Thank you," Silvia felt her chest grow a bit tighter. Really, she just wanted to jump across the table and kiss Fae after she said that. She''s been so understanding about everything, although Silvia hadn''t actually told her about what happened yet. Because if she did, then she would also have to get into a whole bunch of other stuff that Silvia wasn''t really sure she felt ready to tell Fae. What if that was a turn-off? She couldn''t expect Fae to just be fine with dating someone as broken as Silvia. But then again, not telling her felt like she was lying to her... Whichever way she looked, Silvia felt anxious about how to go forward. Trying not to tear up at the thought, Silvia quickly glanced back down at the menu.


    "So! What do you think looks good?" she asked, and Fae immediately looked down at her menu as well.


    "I''ve been eyeing the Huitlacoche Quesadillas for a bit now..." Fae explained, "I heard their tamales are pretty good too, and I know that they have ones that don''t have lard in them too, if you''re worried about that."


    "Both of that sounds pretty good... want to get both and share?"


    "Sure! Let''s do it!"


    Fae waved over the waiter and ordered, and the two also got some cocktails that were supposed to go well with their food. As they waited, their conversation kept drifting around into numerous different areas. School, work, art, animals, travel; anything that crossed their minds, really. And the more the two spoke, the more their eyes lingered on each other, as if the world around them was disappearing. Even the food that was soon served was only a side-thought.


    Silvia''s eyes carefully followed the splotches of colour sprinkled on Fae''s face as they moved around, from her cheek, to her neck, down her chest and into the light dress she was wearing. Catching herself before her mind drifted away into thoughts that would make her face turn as red as a traffic light, Silvia sat up straight and pat down her own skirt, acting as if it got some kind of crumbs of their food on it.


    Though, when she looked back up, from Fae''s expression, Silvia was sure that she knew exactly where the elf had been looking. Fae carefully touched the tip of her shoe against Silvia''s, smiling as the two looked into each other''s eye. They reached out to each other and held hands on the table, feeling each other''s warmth in their fingertips.


    It was clear they wanted to do much more than just that, but they both held back. This was their first real date, and neither wanted to ruin things by going too fast. But at some point, that tension got too much, and Fae stuttered something out.


    "Y-You know, my roommate is visiting her family for a few weeks right now... do you... do you want to come over later?" Fae asked, the colour all over her body completely stunned, as if the girl was holding her breath in anticipation of an answer. Silvia couldn''t help herself but smirk a bit at that, as she nodded her head.


    "I would love that," the elf replied, and Fae''s colour immediately started moving again, all rushing toward her face as if to hide the expression she was making right now. Anxiously, Fae looked around the table to change the topic, clearly being too nervous to just let things linger here, and soon noticed Silvia''s glass.


    "Do you want another drink? I''m also almost done," Fae quickly looked around for the waiter, as Silvia''s smile lingered. She felt happy. Really, really happy. As she looked at Fae, something caught her eye behind her, though. A pair of branch-like antlers, decorated with glass flowers and leaves, steadily approaching the pair in a straight line.


    Almost taken aback, Silvia straightened her back, as a young woman came into view. Messily curly brown hair covered her head and stretched down to her thighs. She was walking around completely barefoot, in the middle of a city, and was wearing a plain summer dress, with a white so pristine that it made the cuts and rough edges on the fabric stand out even more.


    The girl, clearly around Silvia and Fae''s age, came to a halt right in front of the two. With an angry glare, as if she despised what she was looking at, the girl gnashed and bared her teeth.


    "This is wrong, this... This is all far too wrong!"


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Wisps of red and threads of green moved out of Ryan''s hand together, forming the bodies of the two spirits Maximus and Gaia. The moment they fully appeared, the group of people huddling around Ryan moved in closer.


    "Oh, wow! Look at that one, it''s so cute and tiny..." one of the people said, as Ryan squatted down to pick Maximus up from the ground.


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "His name is Maximus. And let me tell you, despite his size, he packs quite the punch. Physically, he''s stronger than me," Ryan pointed out, trying not to reveal that Maximus had a class, levels, and stats. Revealing the two spirits like this was one thing, since Ryan didn''t want them to live in hiding when they didn''t have to, but it was another to go too deep into certain aspects of their existence. Ryan had decided to not keep his class too much of a secret; it was too late for that now anyway. But that didn''t mean he should just reveal every little part of it to others.


    "What about the other one?"


    "Her name is Gaia. She''s a spirit that''s quite close to nature," Ryan explained, as people moved in to take closer looks. It was very likely that none of them had ever seen spirits before. They were quite rare beings and usually didn''t choose to interact with others. There were those that lived in specific places, like spirits that were born from temples or castles; old places with lots of history. They tended to be a bit more open to interacting with people, but even then it was quite rare to get a good look at one. Summoner-type classes weren''t particularly common either.


    While Gaia seemed a little nervous being stared at by everyone, Maximus seemed to enjoy the attention, and was practically posing on Ryan''s hands to show off his good side to everyone.


    Soon, someone looked back at Ryan and curiously asked, "So, what kind of spirits are they? What kind of abilities do they have?"


    "Well, Gaia''s abilities are focused around caring for plants," Ryan explained, "Meanwhile, Maximus'' abilities are focused around weapon-based combat."


    "That''s a pretty big difference... what area will you go into? Botany? Or an Awakened-field, like heroics?" someone wondered, and Ryan laughed a little awkwardly.


    "I don''t know yet, I only awakened like two weeks ago, and pretty suddenly as well," Ryan admitted, and the crowd grew a bit confused. They glanced over at Alicia, who was watching the whole thing quietly.


    "You already got to level 10 in just two weeks? But that..."


    Ryan quickly looked over at Alicia, still annoyed that she just blurted something out about his new skill, so he tried to come up with a good explanation that didn''t involve telling people about Tiar, "Nope, I''m still just level 4! The new skill Ali- Miss Boreard mention is like a... you know about talent-unlocked skills, right? I tried out a few different things since I awakened and managed to find a new talent... or something like that."


    Ryan tried to scramble together some kind of explanation. Unlocking skills through sheer talent was certainly possible, but it was probably even rarer than awakening in the first place and usually required a ton of training. But in some rare cases, people got ''lucky'' and unlocked a new skill pretty soon after awakening. Usually, it would be a skill that was close up for selection as a base-skill anyway.


    "Aw man, lucky..." Michael muttered quietly to himself next to Ryan, "So... what kind of skill is it?"


    Ryan thought about it for a moment, and then looked over at Alicia, who was still just waiting, also anxiously wanting to see Ryan''s skill in action. With a slight groan, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Alright, I can show it to you guys, but I''m going to need some scrap metal."


    "Scrap metal?"


    "Yeah, like, a good amount it," Ryan replied, "It could be any metal, but it''s not going to be usable anymore after I use the skill, so I would rather not ruin anything."


    Hearing what Ryan was saying, Aurora seemed to spring into action. Being in charge of Ryan, she was obviously more than curious about seeing what kind of new skill he unlocked. After all, you didn''t see a unique class this often, "I think we should have some materials you can use... we have a wide variety of things to let people test their skills."


    Ryan sighed lightly. It seemed like he wouldn''t be able to avoid showing the skill now, though he felt a little awkward about it. Aurora left the room for a short while, and not even ten minutes later returned with some other employees that were wheeling in a cart with metal sheets. They were on the new side, so not scrap metal, but if they were meant for testing skills then Ryan figured it was fine.


    He took off his jacket and folded it up, hanging it over the handles of the cart. So that his sleeve wouldn''t get caught in anything, he quickly folded them up and pushed them up to his elbow. That part of the armour was pretty bulky so there was a fair amount of space, but the wrist was a bit tighter so Ryan didn''t want to risk anything.


    He glanced down at Tiar resting on his left arm. They were aware of what Ryan was trying to do, and were clearly doing their best not to move while this was going on, but Ryan didn''t want to risk it, so he quickly pushed his hand into his pocket so that Tiar could concentrate on the skill execution. Since Ryan''s left sleeve was still pulled down, Tiar was now completely hidden.


    After taking a deep breath, Ryan pressed his palm onto the metal sheets, activating the Spirit Armament skill. Ryan could feel Tiar move over his body, stretching out onto his right arm. Slithering out from under his rolled-up sleeve, the red tendrils quickly reached out to the metal, tearing it apart like paper. Piece by piece, a bulky piece of armour was built around Ryan''s right arm. It wasn''t a perfect copy of Maximus'' Crusader-armour, but it was already a lot closer than the last few times that Ryan and Tiar had tested the skill out.


    Ryan moved the arm around, almost as easily as he would his normal arm. While he didn''t feel any stronger than normal, just being able to move this hefty metal around with relative ease was already a game-changer. Plus, any damage to this arm didn''t translate to the actual crusader-armour piece. It wasn''t repaired while the skill was active, but if the same pieces were re-used again afterward, though the integrity of the armour was a bit worse than before, and it got damaged more easily, the prior damage was mostly repaired.


    One of the other newly-awakened, who seemed to have a hand-to-hand combat based physical class, let out a groan of envy, "You can just do that as long as you have some metal? What is it, are you basically copying the body of one of your spirits?"


    "There are a few conditions to it, but yeah, that''s kind of it," Ryan replied, looking over toward Aurora with an awkward smile, "This would have come in pretty handy when I was in the dungeon, huh?"


    "Certainly... How is the structural integrity? Can you take it off?" Aurora wondered.


    "It''s pretty solid while on there, but I can''t take it off. It''s basically stuck to my arm like this. The skill is only active for ten minutes anyway, and it has a 1-day cooldown right now, so... It''s more like a trump card to protect myself, I guess," Ryan explained, holding his hand forward to let people take a closer look. Particularly those with expertise-classes, of which there were a surprising amount here today, were quite interested in the workmanship of the arm. But of course, there were also quite a few people that were surprised Ryan had already gone to a dungeon at his level, though it did happen every once in a while that people went to dungeons right after registering and passing the Dungeoneering test.


    The conversation continued for a little longer, though it didn''t take long for the next person to get their turn to show their skills. Alicia did come up and take a closer look, though she didn''t seem as interested once the skill was actually active as Ryan had thought. As if she wasn''t curious about the skill itself, but how Ryan would react when pushed like this.


    But... as Ryan was standing here, watching everyone use their skills, and even when the spirit armament skill was deactivated and the metal fell apart into its individual pieces again, something felt... weird.


    Ryan couldn''t put his finger on it, but something was wrong. Really wrong. He didn''t know where this feeling came from, exactly, but it was visceral and distinct. Something Ryan couldn''t just ignore, but at the same time, he didn''t know what it actually was. Like a random bout of anxiety emanating from all around him.


    And throughout the whole rest of the evening, that feeling continued to bother Ryan. That feeling of complete wrongness.

 61 - Wrong (2)

    Most of the shows of everyone''s skills were coming to an end. Those that were interested in showing off their abilities, or had ones that could be shown off in the first place, had already done so. The atmosphere was much different from what you''d expect from this kind of event. Ryan had thought it would be some boring get-together that felt like work, but instead, it felt more like a party where everyone just happened to be wearing suits and dresses.


    People were showing off magic like they were ''party tricks'', and people were laughing and telling stories and just having a good time. It seemed like this was very different from what Aurora knew these events to be, but it was clearly a lot better at getting people to build links than what the intention for this place was.


    Of course, there was still an underlying feeling of people wanting to get ahead of others by showing off their skills, like they were hoping they could prove they were superior or that they could get some kind of opportunity out of it, but that was something that Ryan knew would have been here either way.


    And throughout that all, Ryan felt that something was ''wrong''. He was trying his best to figure out what exactly that ''wrongness'' was, but he wasn''t able to pinpoint it exactly. It was different to the other ''hunches'' that he''s been having recently. There, he had something guiding him along, he had some kind of idea of what he was supposed to be doing. But right now, Ryan didn''t feel like that at all. He had no idea what to do, or rather, he felt like there was nothing he could do, nor that he really needed to do anything in the first place. He just felt that something was ''wrong''.


    Maybe it was some kind of weird form of anxiety that he had, feeling like he didn''t belong here. But that also didn''t seem to be the case, because he was, surprisingly, actually enjoying himself while talking to all these new people. But for now, since this feeling wasn''t something he could do anything about, Ryan just pushed it to the back of his mind, trying not to focus on it too much.


    However, there was one other person that was clearly going through a lot of emotions right now; Michael. He had been practically glued to Ryan all evening, and though it felt a little awkward, Ryan figured he didn''t mind. At the start of the night, Michael felt like just another douche, but clearly he just really struggled with how to show his emotions. With that server at the start of the night, Michael was trying his best not to cry and ''ruin'' his shirt even more, and that made his frustrations well up in a way that he started yelling unintentionally.


    But Ryan had already gone with him to apologize to that server, and they seemed to appreciate that a lot, especially after Michael explained the situation a bit more. And after that, though being a bit on the quieter side, Michael had been trying to join conversations as much as he could, but now that the ''end'' of the skill showcases came closer, he was clearly growing more and more anxious.


    "You ready? It looks like it''s going to be your turn soon," Ryan pointed out as he looked over at the young man next to him, and Michael, almost startled, looked over at him.


    "Huh? Really? Do you think so?" Michael asked, and Ryan quickly nodded as he looked over toward Alicia.


    "Yeah, I mean, she looks like she''s preparing something right now. Plus, it looks like most other people are done, so it would make sense, right?"


    "R-Right..." Michael nodded nervously, anxiously scratching his neck. And just as Ryan had thought, after about ten more minutes, Alicia came up to Michael with a smile. Ryan had stepped to the side to grab himself something more to eat, so he didn''t hear what they were saying, but it looked like Alicia had been preparing her barrier for a little while now.


    As Michael started preparing himself to show off his magic, Ryan took the opportunity where everyone''s attention was drawn toward the Hydromancer to turn to Maximus and Gaia. The two were still outside of their domains, having people huddle around them the whole time. Someone even wanted to pick up Maximus at some point, and after Ryan made it clear that he''s not a toy, maybe a bit too aggressively, people gave them all a bit more space.


    Squatting down in front of Gaia, with Maximus seated on the golem''s hunchback, Ryan looked around to make sure nobody was nearby, "You two, do you also feel this... weird thing right now? Maximus, you felt some kind of ''vibe'' off the dungeon, right? Even through a video, you knew that one of Gaia''s fragments was there... do you feel something similar to that right now?"


    Tilting his head to the side, Maximus tried to think about it for a moment but quickly shook his head. Similarly, Gaia clearly didn''t feel anything, but to Ryan, it was starting to be almost overpowering.


    "Are you sure? This is really uncomfortable," Ryan pointed out, looking down at the back of his hand. He was hiding Tiar''s pattern with his other hand, "What about you? Do you feel anything?"


    Tiar slowly relaxed, forming a small ''X'' on the back of his hand, before that pattern quickly turned into a question-mark. It seemed like Tiar was getting a few more options to express themself.


    "I don''t know what it is, it''s just... ''wrong''. Like something isn''t right. Like... no, maybe ''wrong'' isn''t the right word either, it''s just... off. Like something just happened that wasn''t supposed to happen. Not like... this."


    Ryan wasn''t sure if he was expressing himself well enough, but that was the closest that he could get to properly vocalizing how he felt.


    "Okay, everyone! Take a step back for this, please!" Alicia''s voice sounded through the hall, and Ryan''s attention was quickly drawn toward her. A large crowd had, of course, formed around Michael, and the air around him was waving in a slight rainbow hue; that was the barrier that Alicia had deployed in order to contain his magic, as it was clearly easy for it to go out of control.


    Curiously, Ryan stood up, figuring that he should just talk to Runar about this later. Maybe this was some weird ''secret society'' stuff that he shouldn''t need to worry about at all. He walked up to the crowd, quickly trying to find a spot where he could see Michael properly. He was clearly very anxious, especially with everyone staring at him like that, but he was trying whatever he could to prepare himself.


    Michael seemed to be looking around the crowd, soon spotting Ryan, who just quickly waved at him. Seeming a lot more ready to get started all of a sudden, Michael closed his eyes and took a deep breath.


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    "U-Uhm... I''m a Hydromancer, and I awakened a month ago. I have a lot of mana, but my spirituality stat is really low, so I struggle with using it properly... But there''s one spell that I have been practising a lot recently," Michael explained, holding his hands together.


    Carefully, he pulled them apart, and a small ball of water formed between his palms. As he moved his hands further away from each other, the ball grew in size. It was a very ''standard'' spell, a baseline one that most Hydromancers used for practice. The ''Water Ball'' spell was commonly used to show a Hydromancer''s level. As it was so basic, it was easy to let a lot of mana flow into it, and they could also play around with it quite a lot if their control was enough. Ryan figured that Michael was planning on showing off how much mana he had by making a particularly large water ball, and that was exactly what happened as well.


    The ball grew and grew, and didn''t seem to want to stop. Rather, it grew far larger than Ryan was expecting, even considering Michael''s mana. At some point, it was large enough to fully submerge Ryan even while he was standing up straight, and even then didn''t seem to want to stop.


    Every other mage in the room seemed confused; Ryan only had a surface-level understanding of how impressive this was, but those that were actually spellcasters themselves seemed almost taken aback. Even Alicia was showing a level of surprise that Ryan couldn''t really put a finger on.


    The water ball didn''t stop growing, continuing on and on, until suddenly, it started to become deformed. The water ball was pressing onto the edges of the cylindrical barrier that Alicia had placed to contain the water. A shadow was cast onto the concentrating Michael as he stopped letting the water ball expand.


    After a few moments of silence, an impressed applause sounded out. Michael was almost startled out of his concentration, looking around as a broad smile formed on his face. He quickly glanced at Ryan, who had joined the applause, and then looked over at Alicia, who was watching curiously.


    And right then, something in Ryan''s pocket buzzed, and he had a weird feeling about it. He pulled out his phone and took a quick look, seeing that Silvia had texted him. She should be on her date with Fae right now, did something go wrong?


    At the same time, within the barrier, the water ball above Michael was forming ripples that grew stronger rapidly. It waved around, and droplets of water fell down onto Michael. Anxiously, Michael looked up at the water ball, and as if that was the trigger, the water ball fell apart. The massive amount of water dropped down onto Michael with a crashing sound that startled everyone in the room, but Ryan''s eyes were glued to his phone as he read Silvia''s message.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "This is wrong!" hearing the girl''s yell, both Silvia and Fae flinched. They were taken aback, and other people in the restaurant looked over and stared. Feeling the eyes on her, Fae pulled back a bit, but Silvia wouldn''t have it.


    "Excuse me? What, you''ve never seen two girls on a date before?" Silvia asked with an angry glare.


    The girl shook her head, and the glass flowers on her antlers clattered together, "No, no, not that! That''s not... you, you''re just... it''s all wrong, messed up!"


    Silvia could feel her stomach drop, "Th-That... what do you want from us? Just... leave!"


    "No! You need to come with me, I need to fix this!" The girl reached out and grabbed Silvia''s wrist, trying to pull her away from her seat. Startled by the ridiculous strength in this girl''s body, Silvia tried to hold onto her chair and the table, but the girl was much stronger than her.


    "Wh-What are you- Don''t, I-" Silvia looked over at Fae in fear, but the changeling had already jumped up. She tried to tear the antlered girl away from Silvia, but the girl just slapped her away.


    "I''m trying to help! You''re all messed up as well, but not as much as her! The threads are all tangled up, with this, this..." the girl slowly reached above Silvia''s head. She couldn''t see what was going on, but she could feel that something was happening. Like some kind of deep dread.


    "No! Stop it, get back!" Silvia yelled out, trying to push the girl away. With an angry stare, the girl practically growled.


    "I''m trying to help you! What can''t you understand?!"


    Silvia stared into the girl''s eyes. She seemed almost scared, when she was the one that was assaulting Silvia. It didn''t take long for other customers and workers of the restaurant to step in, pulling the girl away from Silvia.


    "Let go of me! I need to fix this, I need to-" kicking and screaming, the girl threw her arms around and hit the people that were holding her, but Silvia just dropped back down onto her seat, confused and shaking.


    Fae immediately came and held her, trying to block Silvia from having to look at that clearly insane girl. Silvia pulled her in closer, burying her face in Fae''s dress.


    The girl was brought away to a place where they didn''t have to see her, and Fae slowly squatted down in front of Silvia, "Are you okay? Did she hurt you?"


    Slowly, Silvia looked down at her wrist. It felt sore and hurt a lot, and was already growing red, "A little bit... but it''s not that bad."


    "Should we go? I''ll bring you home," Fae immediately suggested, as tears welled up in Silvia''s eyes.


    "I just wanted to have a good time with you today..."


    "I know, I know... But that was really scary, right? I get it if you want to rest for now."


    Silvia slowly shook her head, as Fae carefully patted the elf''s tears dry, trying not to mess up her makeup too much, "Could I... could I still come to your place? I don''t want to keep locking myself in my room..."


    "If that''s what you want, obviously we can. Come, I''ll pay and then we can go. I''ll call us a taxi," Fae suggested, and Silvia slowly nodded her head.


    "O-Okay... I''ll go to the restroom first, if that''s okay..."


    "Of course, I''ll come with you and-"


    Silvia immediately interrupted Fae and shook her head, "No, I... I just need a moment, okay?"


    Hesitant to leave Silvia alone right now, Fae looked at the elf''s face. Seeing that she was serious, Fae nodded and agreed, and Silvia was quickly led to the restroom by one of the waiters. The employees were all apologizing vehemently, but Silvia couldn''t really focus on any of that right now.


    She made her way into the restroom, and beelined straight for one of the stalls. Without a moment''s hesitation, she dropped onto her knees and vomited up the dinner that her and Fae just shared. Whatever that girl just did made Silvia nauseous like nothing else Silvia had ever experienced before. It was like motion sickness dialled up to 1000%, and she couldn''t help herself but be a bit scared.


    That girl was strong... so maybe she was an Awakened? So maybe she used some kind of weird skill on Silvia, or at least tried to. It didn''t seem like she was able to finish what she was trying to do.


    After a little while, Silvia stepped back out from the stall. She still felt sick, but it was a little better now. Slowly, the elf stepped up to the mirrors, but was confused by what she was seeing.


    Her eyeliner and mascara was completely smudged and had created long streaks of black down her cheek. Silvia''s hair was messy, and her lipstick was almost completely gone. She looked like a mess, but that wasn''t what she was focusing on.


    Instead, she looked at her eyes that were glowing in intertwining shades of blue and pink and red, as she felt a sharp stinging as if someone had stuck a needle into her eye, but it wasn''t painful either. It was exactly how Ryan had described.


    A glowing, translucent window flickered into Silvia''s view.


    Silvia had awakened.

 62 - Straight to Voice Mail

    Ryan stood outside the building, tapping his foot on the ground, almost anxiously waiting for Silvia to pick up. Soon, he could hear crackling on the other side, and Silvia''s quiet voice sounded out.


    "Hey..."


    "Hey! You awakened?" He asked excitedly. Having Silvia awaken as well definitely wasn''t something that he expected, but now that it happened, he couldn''t be more excited. Someone like Silvia would definitely get an amazing class. But from Silvia''s voice, it seemed that she wasn''t even nearly as excited as Ryan was.


    "I... I don''t know what''s going on, but... Can you come over? I''m really confused about this all," she explained, and Ryan was almost taken aback.


    "Yeah, of course! Are you okay? Did something else happen?" he asked, concerned for his friend, "Is Fae still with you?"


    "Yeah, she''s still here, we''re on our way to my place right now... my parents aren''t home right now, but Yanna should be." Silvia explained, though for some reason, she seemed to be almost distracted, "Could you try to reach out to Modak for me? I haven''t been able to reach him and I really don''t have the mind to take care of that right now."


    "Of course, leave it to me. Just take it easy, alright?"


    "Yeah, thanks. I''ll see you in a bit..."


    "See you in a bit," Ryan replied before hanging up.


    He immediately went to text Yamada to ask her to pick him up, already asking her to bring him to Silvia''s place instead of his own. Yamada replied almost immediately, saying that she would be there in ten minutes, so Ryan still had some time to go back inside and say goodbye, instead of just disappearing without telling anyone.


    Ryan stepped back into the Awakened Centre, quickly making his way to the main hall again. In there, he quickly walked up to Aurora or some groups of people that he had spoken to tonight.


    "Alright guys, have a good rest of your night," he said with a smile, waving at them as he approached Alicia, one of the last people he wanted to talk to.


    "Ryan! It looks like you''re leaving already?" she asked, and Ryan nodded, though he couldn''t help himself but feel a bit uneasy about the way she looked at him.


    "Yeah, something came up," Ryan responded, looking at the elven woman intensely. Since he didn''t know when he was going to see her next, he figured he should just ask about it now, "What''s your play?"


    "Pardon?"


    "Like, what''s your deal? Why did you have everyone do this whole skill showcase thing? And why are you even here? I don''t... I don''t get it," despite Ryan''s clear intent to get a proper response, Alicia simply brushed him off.


    "Now, now, don''t be so paranoid all of a sudden," she responded, the smile on her face never having dropped even once the whole night.


    Even though he wanted to know what her deal was, clearly, Alicia wasn''t going to tell Ryan anything. With a click of his tongue, he looked away.


    "Whatever. Have you seen Michael? What happened after... that?" Ryan asked, glancing around the room. There was no trace of any sort of water left anywhere, but Michael wasn''t around either. Alicia quickly responded.


    "I helped him dry off with a quick spell, and then he was dragged off by who I assume to be his brother."


    Ryan groaned lightly, already having a pretty good image of how that conversation was going. He felt like he shouldn''t intrude on family matters, though, so he figured he would just text Michael and apologize for not saying goodbye. But Silvia was more important right now.


    Not paying any mind to Alicia''s penetrating gaze, Ryan made his way back outside and quickly dialled Modak''s number. It rang a few times, but then just went to voice mail.


    "Come on, man," Ryan groaned, stepping back outside the building as he tried to call again. After being sent to voice mail two more times, he decided to text Modak, telling the orc to call him back. Ryan would try calling him again on the way to Silvia''s place, but for now, Yamada had arrived.


    Ryan pulled open the door and quickly sat down with a slight groan, feeling the social exhaustion come over him. Yamada quickly greeted him, and he did the same, as she pulled out onto the road, but after that, the car was quickly filled with silence. And Ryan was incredibly happy about that silence for the time being.


    After showing Gaia and Maximus to people on top of his new ''Spirit Armament'' skill, lots of the other new Awakened came up to him throughout the evening to talk to him. Of course, Ryan didn''t turn them down and tried to make conversation, but after about three hours of either talking or eating without break, Ryan''s jaw felt incredibly sore, and so did his mind. It was that sort of exhaustion that made him want to not talk for the next week. Though, considering where he was headed, he would probably be pretty busy for the next couple of hours anyway.


    After letting out a slight breath, Ryan pulled out his phone, pulling up his ''Hotchpotch'' feed, seeing some pictures and posts of the people that he just followed pop up. All of them were the newly Awakened people from the party.


    Some of these people seemed to be living some pretty interesting lives, but then again, you probably shouldn''t trust these pictures too much. He looked through the people he just followed and quickly found Michael''s account.


    <hr>


    You


    Hey man, I ended up having to leave because of an emergency


    Hope you have a good time for the rest of the night


    That ''Water Ball'' was fucking awesome


    <hr>


    Ryan pulled back out of the app and went to dial Modak''s number again, but just like before, he didn''t answer the call.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    A quiet whistle filled the air as a man walked along a local park''s main path. The scenery was illuminated by the evening light. There were quite a few people walking around, working to set up decoration for Spirit Week later this month. It was a massive event, so things like this were usually set up well in advance to make sure that everything was prepared in time all across the city.


    Particularly all the lights that would keep the city lit up and acted as the main attraction for the sixth day of Spirit Week needed to be properly linked together and set up safely so that nobody could intervene with them. And that was exactly what this man was here for.


    "How do you do? I''m Richard Snappertie, I''m here to assist you today," with a smile on his face, Richard approached the workers in front of him currently taking a break.


    "Ah, that''s you, huh? The Technomancer or whatever?"


    "Yup, that''s me," Richard replied, straightening his tie with a smile on his face. After that orientation meeting the other day, Richard had been introduced to some higher-ups. The Snappertie family did have some connections within this industry, so they were very happy to meet with him. And amongst those people was an individual that made a quite intriguing offer to Richard that he couldn''t let up. And that led to him starting work early. Only on a sort of part-time basis right now so that he could finish his studies without interference, but it was still work nonetheless.


    And as the ''new guy'', Richard was sent out to do some dirty work, though he would have volunteered to do this anyway, even if that hadn''t been the case. Richard approached the central control system for all the lights and decoration that was running on electricity or magic that was set up here in the park. It was one of the central locations of where Spirit Week''s sixth day would be celebrated, so it was more than important to keep everything safe.


    Richard got out his gloves, a new pair that had been custom-made for him by his new ''friend'', and opened the suitcase by his side. Inside of it were a number of tools that he was going to need for this.


    Quickly, with some swift motions, Richard opened up central control system and looked inside, quickly adjusting certain values with a spark of his magic.


    "So, ya can fix it? It''s some magic issue, right?" one of the workers asked, and Richard quickly nodded his head.


    "Yes, there was a mana overflow in one of the-"


    "I don''t care what it is, as long as you can fix it," the man interrupted, turning away with a loud yawn.


    Richard''s smile disappeared and he clicked his tongue. Doing repair work like this was usually far, far below his skill level, so that man should be thankful he was here to take care of everything so quickly. He was already finished fixing it after a few minutes, after all. It would have taken most others maybe some hours to even figure out what the issue even was.


    But that being the case, Richard had the time to do what he was here for in the first place. Looking around the interior, he was looking for the central mana source. It was hooked up directly to the mana currents around here. He nearly had to climb inside the machine to get to it, but before long, he did get his hands on the refined crystal without issue. With just a quick touch of his fingertip, a spark of his mana flowed inside, and with it, a black thread was carried along, burying itself inside of the crystal without a trace.


    "Perfect," Richard smiled, pulling back out of the control system before closing it back up. He snapped quickly and activated the part of the system that he just repaired; it was a deep protection against outside interference. Basically, a high-powered barrier placed around this small object, combined with a security system that would give a warning to a person in charge that someone was trying to mess with it.


    The gnome walked up to the workers with a smile on his face, "It''s all set up. As long as you have your key-cards you should be able to-"


    "Mhm, thanks, kid," one of the workers, the same one that was so rude before, simply waved what Richard was saying off. He approached the central control system and quickly turned it on. All the lights and decoration quickly flashed on for a moment, but were quickly turned back off. This was just supposed to be a quick test to make sure that everything still worked properly. Richard was a little bothered by that, as if the man thought that the gnome might have messed the control system up in the process of fixing the security system, but in the end, it was fine.


    It gave Richard the chance to view that his own plan had worked out pretty well too. A flood of black threads that only Richard was able to see was flowing through the lamps and cables and illusion stones, and everything else that was set up here. Before long, they had spread throughout the whole area. Since those threads were deeply connected with Richard''s magic, he could control them pretty well too.


    He flicked his wrist, quickly making sure that the threads were hiding themselves properly. Like this, the corruption couldn''t be seen properly even with detection abilities, and could lay dormant until Richard needed to use this space.


    Glad that everything worked out, Richard glanced over at the worker. He was ready to finally leave, now that everything had been fixed, and packed up his van together with the other workers. Without further ado, they left, not even glancing at Richard as they did.


    "Well, that has me quite peeved," Richard muttered to himself, pointing at the van as it drove away. A spark of his mana flowed toward it and embedded itself inside of the vehicle''s machinery, though once he had done so, Richard hesitated, "I guess only one of them really bothered me... Oh, well."


    He waited and waited, sitting down on a nearby bench. Before long, the sound of an ambulance''s siren filled his ears, and a smile formed on Richard''s face.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Almost simultaneously, two cars arrived in front of the Redhorns'' home. One was a sleek, private car, the other an old and rusty taxi.


    Ryan stepped out of the car, showing Yamada note he took on his phone to tell her not to wait for her, that he had already told Runar he would be late, and whatever else she needed to know.


    At the same time, Silvia and Fae stepped out of the taxi. A bit confused, Fae looked at Ryan, "Wait, weren''t you in the Channel? How did you get here at the same time as us¡­?"


    "Uhm, my uncle''s friend is a pretty good driver, I guess," Ryan replied, not wanting to get too deep into it. His stomach was still turning from the quick turns, speeding, alleys, and even the plenty of times that Yamada actively drove on the wrong side of the road for a bit because it would be quicker. Ryan had no idea how she still had a licence, but at least it came in useful.


    Either way, Ryan quickly approached Silvia, giving her a quick hug. The elf pulled him in closer and the two stood there for a moment.


    "Thanks for coming so quickly..." Silvia said as she finally let go, waving at Yamada as she pulled back out onto the road.


    "Of course, you came sprinting for me when I awakened. Plus... something else happened, right?"


    "... Right," Silvia nodded. Seeing both her and Fae''s expressions, Ryan didn''t really know what to expect, but it didn''t seem great.


    Fae, wanting to break the nervous air, quickly looked at Ryan, "Were you able to reach Modak?"


    He quickly shook his head, "Nope, but I''m still trying. He might be busy preparing for work stuff?"


    Silvia slowly nodded her head, "Right, yeah... that''s fine, he''s busy, don''t worry."


    The three quickly made their way up the stairs to the front door, and Silvia unlocked it. There was music playing upstairs, so it sounded like Yanna was home.


    "Let''s go to my room, it''s in the attic. I''ll go grab Yanna on the way," Silvia suggested, and neither Ryan nor Fae had a reason to decline. Once they got to the floor where Yanna''s room was, Ryan quickly swerved to the side.


    "I''ll go take a leak first," Ryan quickly said, but Silvia just scrunched her nose up.


    "Ew, don''t say it like that..."


    "Oh sorry, I didn''t know you were so high-class now that you awakened, M''Lady," Ryan scoffed, as the elf girl sighed and knocked on the door to her sister''s room, quickly pushing it open afterward as she always did.


    At the same time, Ryan pushed open the bathroom door, but before he could, the door opened in front of him. And who stood there was Yanna, wearing a bathrobe after taking a shower. But instead of greeting him, she looked across the hall, and stared into her bedroom nervously.


    "G-Guys, I can explain, I-" she stuttered out, as Ryan turned around confused. He saw a stunned Silvia grinning from ear to ear while Fae was trying to hide her embarrassment.


    What, or rather who could be seen inside of Yanna''s bedroom was a half-naked Modak, trying to cover up with Yanna''s blanket.


    "Uh... hi? You''re back early..."

 63 - Soulspark Artist

    The group of five was sitting spread out in Silvia''s bedroom.


    "Sooo..." Silvia said with a smirk on her face, as if whatever anxieties she was feeling earlier had been completely washed away, at least for a few moments, "What were interrupting~?"


    Yanna and Modak looked at each other nervously, as the minotaur scratched her cheek, "Well... I was going to be home alone, so I asked Modak if he wanted to hang out... and then one thing led to another and... you know..."


    Modak''s face had turned an embarrassed, dark green, "Just... don''t make a big deal out of it, okay?"


    "Alright, alright, we get it," Ryan replied, grinning just as much as, if not more than, Silvia, "But you''ve got to answer at least one question. Are you two, like, a thing now?"


    The two glanced at each other again, both hesitating to answer the question. But finally, Modak broke the silence, "I-I mean... are we?"


    "If... if you want us to be..." Yanna responded, trying to hide her anxious expression. And in response, Modak hurriedly nodded his head.


    "Yeah, in that case, I guess we are."


    Yanna was unable to hide the massive smile that formed on her face, and Modak did the same, his teeth shining through his flushed face. After a few moments, though, Modak turned toward his friends.


    "A-Anyway, what are you guys doing here? Especially together," he asked, as Silvia seemed to remember the events of that night, which she had briefly forgotten about after that surprise reveal.


    Seeing that Silvia was pulling back, Ryan patted the elf''s back and answered for her, "Well, if either of you had looked at your phone, you''d know. But Silvia awakened earlier."


    Taken aback, as this was probably the last thing that either Yanna or Modak were expecting, they both stared at her.


    "What? How- That- That''s amazing!" Yanna exclaimed immediately, "What''s your class?"


    "It''s called... ''Soulspark Artist''. I''ve never heard of it, but..." Silvia started, looking over at Ryan, who was already deep in thought. Though, after a few moments, he realized that the others, with the exception of Fae, were intently looking at him.


    "What''s with those looks?" Ryan asked with a raised brow, almost defensively, "Just because I know a thing or two about Awakened doesn''t mean that I know every single class!"


    While Modak, Silvia, and Yanna just kept staring at him, Fae seemed a bit confused. After a few moments, Ryan gave in and let out a loud groan.


    "Okay fine, I remember a bit about this one ''cause I actually thought it suited Silvia really well... But it''s a really rare class. Like... If I remember right, the last time it popped up was sometime in the last century, that type of rare," Ryan sighed, "That''s why I don''t think there''s going to be a lot of info out there about it in the first place. Oh, but at the very least, it should follow the ''Artist'' baseline, so if the word ''art'' is used in any of your skills, it basically means whatever you personally acknowledge as art. And it has something to do with knowing and understanding others and stuff."


    "That does sound like Silvia," Modal agreed, and Fae looked at Ryan a bit startled.


    "You just knew that off the dome?"


    "... Don''t judge me, it''s a hobby," embarrassed, Ryan turned his head away.


    "Is it just me or do rare classes feel a little... common?" Yanna, someone who Awakened into the rare ''Mountain Archer'' class asked, looking at the one with the unique ''Spirit Keeper'' class.


    "... Not usually, no," Ryan looked at Silvia with a light frown, "What exactly happened earlier? It wasn''t just that you awakened, right?"


    Silvia hesitated and nodded her head, "This girl came up to me, and kind of... I don''t know, she acted really weird and was yelling at me that something was ''wrong''..."


    "We thought she was just being homophobic at first, but that didn''t seem to be it. I think maybe she was having some kind of episode," Fae added, and Yanna looked at Silvia nervously, reaching out to hold her sister''s hand.


    "I''m so sorry, are you okay?"


    Silvia quickly nodded, "Yeah, I''m fine... She did grab my wrist though, and that kind of hurt," she showed her arm, which now had a deep purple and blue bruise right where she had been grabbed, and you could see the outlines of the girl''s fingers through it. Immediately, Yanna jumped up.


    "Holy- Hold on, I''ll go grab something, I think we should have some healing salve around here," she exclaimed, rushing out of the room.


    While she was gone, Modak cupped his chin in his hand, "I think I heard that sometimes awakening can be triggered by High-Stress situations... Is that maybe what happened there?"


    "I don''t know... maybe?" Silvia responded, and the two slowly looked at Ryan, whose face had gone completely pale, "Ryan? Are you okay?"


    "Hm? Oh, yeah... and that stress thing is a myth, by the way, there''s no data to back that up as a general guideline... especially not with an artist-type class.," he pointed out, before slowly looking over at Fae, "Hey, sorry, would you mind maybe helping Yanna try and find that healing salve?"


    Confused and a bit taken aback, Fae looked away from Ryan and toward Silvia, who didn''t really know what was going on either. But Silvia quickly rubbed the other girl''s arm, "It would be great if you could... Just for a couple of minutes, okay?"


    Fae hesitantly nodded, "If you say so..."


    The changeling slowly got up and made her way out of Silvia''s room, walking down the stairs to where Yanna was rummaging around. She looked back hesitantly as she closed the door behind her, realizing that there was something that those three had to talk about privately.


    "What''s going on?" Modak asked, "Do you know something about this?"


    Ryan didn''t know how to respond to that directly, but he had to try his best, "I... not really, I guess? But Silvia, that girl really said that things were ''wrong''?"


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Yeah, but why?"


    "Okay, this sounds weird, but I''ve been feeling that something was ''wrong'' all evening. Like, I don''t know if that''s what it was, especially since I guess that feeling popped up before all this happened, but it feels like too much of a coincidence," Ryan pointed out, "Especially toward the end, it felt like something wasn''t going quite the way it should... What did that girl do? Was there anything beside the yelling and pulling your arm?"


    "Yes! Yes there was, and I felt really weird after that. She put her arm above my head and I think kind of pulled on something, and I felt nauseous like you wouldn''t believe, but she was interrupted and got pulled away before she could continue," Silvia explained, "How did you know this?"


    Ryan hesitated, since he knew how weird this sounded. The intuition stat wasn''t usually supposed to do this kind of thing; it mostly described how well someone was able to sense mana and boost certain types of instinct, but what Ryan was dealing with felt way different. But in the end, he just had to admit it, "I just kind of... felt it? And... okay and this is going to sound insane, but my gut feeling is telling me this. It''s stupid, and doesn''t really make any sense. Maybe it''s because Runar mentioned something about this before, and it''s just stuck in my head, so really, just don''t mind me if it sounds stupid-"


    "Gods, just say it!" Modak let out, staring at his friend intently, as Ryan explained what his intuition told him.


    "... I think maybe I helped you awaken? Or like, something was in the process of being done, and then that girl did something to trigger it before it was supposed to happen," Ryan said, and both Silvia and Modak silently looked at him as he continued to try and justify his thoughts, "Like, Runar said before that it''s possible that the Spirit Keeper class awakens the spirits and gives them classes, right? And that was the reason why the White Shadow Society wants my class, because they believe that they can use it to make others awaken, or something."


    "But that doesn''t make any sense, you weren''t even there!" Silvia pointed out, and Ryan shrugged.


    "I know! But isn''t this too much of a coincidence otherwise? Like, come on, this doesn''t seem weird to you?"


    "Of course it''s weird, but... you making me awaken? Does that even make sense?"


    "I don''t know? I guess not? I''ll have to ask Runar about it, he definitely knows more about all of this than any of us do," with a long groan, Ryan leaned more into the chair he was sitting on, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Either way, there''s something weird about this girl. What did she look like?"


    Silvia thought about it for a moment, "At first I thought she was a Faun, but she didn''t have any fur at all. She looked like a human with antlers... though cis Faun women don''t even have antlers in the first place, right? And she looked really young too, like, younger than all of us. Oh, and also, she had all these glass flowers all over her antlers."


    The moment Silvia explained this, Ryan noticed both Maximus and Gaia perk up, and he recognized the way they acted. It was the same as when Maximus recognized that Gaia was in that dungeon. Ryan looked inwardly at the two of them.


    ''Are you two alright? Do you know anything about her?'' he asked, but they both seemed hesitant somehow. But in the end, Maximus shook his head.


    ''So you don''t know anything? Or... you don''t remember any details?'' Ryan thought, and Maximus raised his hand with two fingers sticking out. So that meant that, while they felt like they recognized that description, they couldn''t recall anything about that girl. Like a vague sense of recognition without any details.


    Modak looked at Silvia with a concerned expression, "More importantly, are you okay? You seem really shaken up about it."


    Silvia nodded, "I''m fine. I think. The past week or so has been pretty rough. Lots of up and downs," she laughed awkwardly, "It was kind of scary, and awakening is really, really confusing, because I never expected it. Like, it''s cool, obviously, and I did think about what could happen if I did when Yanna awakened, and then again when you did, Ryan, but that''s different from actually awakening. It''s so much... pressure."


    "Yeah, but just think about it, the kind of art you''ll be able to create if you properly hone your new abilities," Ryan pointed out, "You should have ''Dexterity'', right? You''ve got no idea how big of a difference just a few decimal points already make."


    Slowly, Silvia''s nervous expression turned into a light grin, "I guess that is pretty exciting."


    Just then, Yanna and Fae came back into the room. Fae was a bit hesitant at first, but seeing that Silvia was waving her over with a smile made her relax pretty quickly.


    Yanna quickly opened the small tube of healing salve and put it onto a gauze, carefully pressing it onto her sister''s bruise, "Gods, why would some rando come around and do this to you..?"


    "Who knows?" Silvia said, "It looks like she was an Awakened so maybe she saw something that we couldn''t?"


    "An Awakened attacked you? Seriously? That... should we report that?" Yanna nervously looked at the others. In normal situations it would probably not be a bad idea to do that, but considering everything that''s been happening recently, Ryan, Silvia, and Modak all silently agreed that it was better not to.


    "Honestly, I don''t know if I want to bother... It''s not like we even know anything about her, and she could have just been a random, surprisingly strong girl," Silvia responded, but Fae didn''t seem so sure about that. She looked at the elf next to her, who slowly held her hand. With a light smile, Silvia told everyone, "I''m fine now, don''t worry."


    "Alright, in that case..." Ryan started, figuring that it was best to move the conversation on from that mysterious girl, and instead move on to the thing that was to be celebrated. He had pulled out his phone and pulled up the class information on the AWKND wiki "There''s not a ton of info here, but there are a few basic skill descriptions... What skills do you have?"


    Silvia quickly nodded, her eyes focusing on something invisible in front of her, "I''ve got three, ''Artist''s Creation'', ''Artist''s Gallery'', and ''Artist''s Insight''. The first one says I can imbue art with magic, the second one is, like, a storage skill where I can store my art? But the third one is weird, it says I can ''see a target''s soul''."


    "Right," Ryan quickly looked down at his phone, "Okay, so. A ''Soulspark Artist'', like, interacts with the emotions and traits and habits of the world around them, the ''soul'' of everything, whether it''s people or plants or whatever. And the ''Insight'' skill lets you actually see that more tangibly? It looks like how much you can see and how clearly you can see it scales with your Intuition and Sociability stats. And then, if you use what you see as a basis for your ''Creation'' skill, you can get some unique effects."


    "What kind of unique effects?" Modak wondered curiously, leaning over toward Ryan to take a look at what the wiki said.


    "Hm... there is an example here," Ryan muttered, carefully reading through the text, "Okay, so, there was this pretty famous person that apparently had this class in the Middle Ages. And he painted a powerful Knight that specialized in defence. After that, the painting could create something like a barrier around itself. So... things like that."


    "Woah," Silvia''s grin was now stretching from ear to ear, and she couldn''t help herself, "Let me try it out, then! Just the insight skill, on... Yanna, would you be fine if I tried it on you?"


    Immediately, the minotaur jumped up and stood in front of her sister, "Of course! Give it a try!"


    Silvia smiled, as her eyes lit up. Swirls of blue and pink and red appeared in her eyes as her skill was activated. She looked her sister up and down, not sure what exactly she was seeing.


    Of course she saw her sister, but she also saw something beyond that. Something else that was blurrily overlaying her, and when Silvia focused on it, that blurry ''something'' became clearer while Yanna herself faded into the background. And then, what was left was another version of Yanna, anxiously looking at her sister with that deep look of concern she wore whenever Silvia got hurt as a kid.


    But then, that version faded away, replaced by a version of Yanna that was brimming with excitement and curiosity. And then, once again, that version was replaced by one that was glancing over at Modak with a broad smile on her face. But that version didn''t stick around for long either, as all the facets of the emotions that Yanna was feeling right now were shown to her. Some of these emotions appeared more vividly, and most of them were different in how much they deviated from the actual Yanna.


    Without hesitation, Silvia jumped up from her bed and walked over to her desk, scrambling to grab her sketchbook and a pencil. Immediately, she started to sketch down as many of the versions of her sister as she could.

 64 - Intuition

    Graphite scratched over paper, and the sound filled the room. Everyone was intensely staring at Silvia as she sketched out what she had seen using her new ''Artist''s Insight'' skill.


    Peeking over her shoulder, Ryan saw sketches of Yanna in a number of different poses with varying expressions. Seeing how intensely Silvia was working, he figured he should wait until she was done to speak to her. In the meantime, he figured he should finally take off this damn jacket. It seemed like that cooling vest that Runar had given to him had run out of mana, and he was feeling extremely hot all of a sudden. He was told this would just last a week, so why the hell were things getting worse over time?


    Ryan threw the jacket over a chair and took off the vest. He pushed up his sleeves and undid his tie and some of the top buttons. As he did, both Fae and Yanna stared at him. Or more specifically, his arm.


    "Ryan..." Yanna started, finally breaking the silence, "When did you get a tattoo?"


    Realizing that neither of them knew about it yet, Ryan looked down at his arm. Luckily, Tiar knew not to move around other people now unless they were specifically told it was fine to do so. Now, there was a decision to be made. Ryan couldn''t tell them that he had bonded with something called a ''symbiote'' that was passively strengthening his physical growth, on top of having linked with his system to give him an additional class. Would they even believe that? If he told them that, Ryan felt like he wouldn''t be able to hide the rest of what was going on with the Aglecard family either. At the very least, it wasn''t a decision that he could make without thoroughly thinking about it first.


    But Ryan couldn''t just brush it off as a tattoo either. He was dealing with his friends here, who also happened to be the girlfriends of the two people he spent most of his free time with. It was possible they were going to see Tiar move at one point or another, and if he called it a tattoo now, that wasn''t something he could justify.


    "It''s a skill thing," Ryan let out. He figured that might be the best thing to excuse Tiar as, "It''s part of a talent skill I learned last week that lets me construct part of one of the spirits'' bodies on myself. Hold on, I actually took a picture of it."


    Quickly pulling out his phone, as if anxiously trying anything he could to convince them, Ryan pulled up a picture that he took during one of his test-runs of the ''Spirit Armament'' skill. Yanna and Fae leaned in to take a look.


    "Oh damn, seriously? That looks so cool!" Fae let out curiously, "Can you do it now?"


    "Ah, no, I can''t. I need, like, materials to build it, and for Maximus'' armour I need, like, a bunch of metal. Plus, it''s on cooldown anyway, I used it at the newly awakened get-together thing earlier."


    Yanna raised her brow, "Oh, so that''s why you''re wearing a suit. For a moment I thought you three were on a date together."


    "Ew," Silvia let out, not averting her gaze from her sketchbook. Ryan slowly turned his head toward his friend.


    "You know, I don''t disagree, but that still hurt. I''m a catch, aren''t I?" he pointed out, placing his hand onto his hip, as Silvia slowly looked up from the paper for the first time. She looked Ryan up and down, and then slowly looked back at the paper.


    "... Sure," she replied.


    "Yanna, your sister is bullying me," Ryan groaned, dropping down onto the edge of Silvia''s bed as Yanna laughed slightly.


    "Right, right, I''ll tell her off later. But also, they way you''ve been talking sounded like you have more than one spirit? I thought it was just Maximus," the minotaur looked at Ryan curiously, as Fae raised her brows.


    "Oh, I thought the same just now! Did you make a contract with another one?"


    Before answering, Ryan looked inward into Gaia''s domain. Though she seemed a bit exhausted from being around so many people earlier, it seemed like she was more than happy to introduce herself properly to Ryan''s friends. And so, as it was easier to show than to tell, Ryan asked Gaia to step out of her domain.


    As green threads of mana flowed out from the leg of Ryan''s trousers, the golem''s body was quickly being constructed, "Her name is Gaia. She''s a ''Garden Golem'' Spirit."


    Gaia looked around, spotting Yanna and Fae before quickly bowing her head to them as a greeting. Fae immediately sprung up and squatted down on the ground next to her, trying to take a closer look, "Oh, wow! She''s so much bigger than Maximus. And are those flower buds?"


    "Yeah, so like, she''s still 1/10th scale, so they just have different base sizes. Ten metres sound pretty reasonable for a golem, right?" Ryan grinned lightly, "And the flower buds are from one of her abilities. She basically takes care of our balcony garden, and now those same plants are growing on her body."


    "That''s so cool!" Fae let out, with clearly pure curiosity, but Yanna was interested in knowing something else.


    "How did you even find these guys? Aren''t spirits supposed to be, like, super rare? And the famous ones don''t make contracts with people," Yanna pointed out, and Ryan scratched the back of his head.


    "Actually, it''s not a proper ''contract''. At least not from what I looked up online," Ryan tried to explain, "Like, I found Maximus and Gaia''s cores, and then I built their bodies with the parts that my class provided to me. And then after that, it''s my job to take care of them. Housing them, letting them do what their ''concept'' aligns to, and just whatever else they want."


    "Wait, seriously?" Yanna replied, "I''m acquainted with another Summoner, and he described it super differently... He had to go on, like, months-long journeys to find spirits that suited him and then had to somehow find a way to convince them to form a contract with them... And then after that, he can summon them from where they originally live to his own position."


    Ryan scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, that''s how it usually goes, I guess. I''d say I''m just... lucky?"


    "... That''s it? Lucky?" Yanna asked, not sure what to think about that, and Modak scoffed lightly. He knew that going to deep into the background of Ryan''s class and the situations surrounding it wasn''t the best idea, so he figured changing the topic would help Ryan out.


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    "I mean, with how often he''s dragged into fights by bad luck, he has to have some good karma built up there, right?" Modak pointed out.


    "But he involves himself in those fights," Yanna retorted.


    "Well... sure, but it''s the bad luck to find himself in situations where he would need to involve himself. I don''t remember the last time I saw an active mugging, some guy with ridiculous road-rage that pulled out a baseball bat, or a group of drunk guys bullying an animal," Modak pointed out, and Yanna slowly turned toward Ryan.


    "You got yourself involved in things like that?"


    Ryan awkwardly averted his gaze, "Not like I can just let stuff like that keep happening without doing anything, y''know? But it''s not like I''m always violent."


    "Okay, that''s true," Modak agreed, "He''s literally the type of guy to carry an old woman''s groceries after he helped her across the road. Ryan''s a magnet for lost or crying kids too."


    "Well, that''s not..." Ryan wanted to deny at least some of what Modak was saying, but considering his interactions with Michael just earlier that night, he didn''t feel like he really could, "... shut up."


    Just then, Silvia put down her pencil, looking at the pages that she had filled with sketches of her sister. She slowly turned the pages toward the others.


    "Here, this is what I saw with my skill. Different facets of Yanna. Like... all the different facets that came together into who you are and how you act right this second, all separately on their own," Silvia explained, and Yanna placed a hand in front of her mouth with some embarrassment at all those different emotions just being displayed so clearly. Of course, she wasn''t the stoic type, and just like Silvia, wore her thoughts and emotions on her sleeve, but that didn''t change that being faced with emotions that she might not consciously realize on her own in this way could still be embarrassing.


    "Isn''t that pretty useful?" Ryan pointed out, "Use that skill on Alicia next time you see her, I wanna know what''s going on in that woman''s head. Did I tell you that she showed up at the event this evening?"


    "Wait, what? Why would she be there? She should be pretty busy..." Modak was just as confused as Ryan.


    Yanna looked back and forth between Ryan and Modak, "Alicia? Who''s that?"


    "The Mistress of the Magic Tower," Silvia explained bluntly, "She''s a ''family friend'' to Ryan''s family and the person that scouted Modak for the magic tower."


    Ryan and Modak both stared at the elf, who just raised her brows, "Wait, did you not want people to know about that?"


    "Guys, what''s Silvia talking about? Why exactly do you know the Mistress of the Magic Tower?" Yanna asked again, "And scouted? Like, what do you..."


    Modak sighed, nervously scratching his neck, "Yeah, so, I was going to tell you earlier but then... you know... but the Magic Tower is interested in my mana-tapes, and I''m going to be working with them on some research projects to expand its uses and see exactly what they can do."


    "And as for me..." Ryan added, figuring he should just come out with it as well, "Do you remember how I said that I''m not part of that Aglecard family? Like, the super rich and influential one? So, apparently that''s not entirely true."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan stepped into the flat and let out a long groan. He headed straight for the kitchen and threw his jacket over one of the chairs. After pulling open one of the cabinets, he grabbed some protein bars and quickly opened one of them, hungrily biting into it.


    "Finally back?" Runar stepped into the kitchen, looking Ryan up and down. His shirt was completely drenched in sweat, as the vest had run out of mana, and with that its cooling qualities, a few hours ago, "You went to Silvia''s place all of a sudden? What happened?"


    After swallowing the food in his mouth, Ryan quickly responded, "She awakened."


    "... Huh?"


    "Yeah, she awakened. ''Soulspark Artist'', that''s her class, and it sounds like it fits her pretty well," Ryan explained, "But there''s some weird circumstances to it. I know it sounds weird, but I think it''s possible I somehow helped her awaken. You mentioned something like that before, right?"


    "No, that..." Runar, trying to really catch up to what Ryan was saying, slowly shook his head, "That''s not a fact. It was just a theory that the Spirit Keeper awakens a ''class'' in spirits, but that''s something completely different to actively making others awaken. Why would you even think that?"


    "Well, I kind of felt something right when she awakened. But the situation is a bit more complicated than that. Hold on, Silvia gave me a sketch," Ryan said, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket before handing it to his uncle, "Silvia and her girlfriend were at dinner today, and that girl suddenly showed up and yelled at and basically assaulted them. She seemed to have done something to Silvia at that point, and maybe that, combined with my connection to Silvia, caused her to awaken?"


    Runar looked at the sketch on the piece of paper, "Alright... she had antlers, but she''s not a faun?"


    "No, apparently not. Do you know anything about that? Is there a ''hidden'' species like that?"


    Shaking his head, Runar responded, "No, not that I''m aware. This seems to be an individual thing... Do you know exactly what this girl told Silvia?"


    "So, I think Silvia and Fae said that she yelled ''This is wrong'', and ''You''re all messed up'', and things like that."


    "I see. I''ll have someone look for this girl," Runar explained, folding the piece of paper back up, "But either way, I don''t think we should assume that you caused Silvia to awaken. The reasons behind awakenings are still unclear, so there was most likely something else that acted as the trigger. Heightened emotions aren''t a rare one for that."


    Ryan leaned against the kitchen counter, looking at his uncle, "Yeah, but, she''s got this really rare class, and awakened just two weeks after I did? You''re telling me that''s a coincidence?"


    Not sure what to respond to that, Runar sighed and shook his head, "I wouldn''t call it a coincidence, I guess. I told you about that ''pull of fate'', right? Well, it''s a lot more complicated than you''d think. Awakened are drawn to each other to some degree. A person that awakens statistically has a higher chance of being surrounded by other people that have awakened or will do so in the future."


    "Well, sure, I heard about that before as well, but still, two weeks? Seriously?"


    Runar sighed loudly, "Listen, I don''t know either. It looks like the ''Spirit Keeper'' class is slightly different from when your father had it. We don''t know exactly in what ways, but we''ll figure it out. But before we do, let''s not assume the frankly craziest possibility. Yes, Silvia awakening within two weeks of you would be an incredible coincidence, but it''s not impossible. Weirder things have happened."


    "I guess you''re right," Ryan replied, "Either way, Silvia seemed pretty excited about making new clothes for me now. We''re heading to that dungeon soon, right?"


    Runar slowly nodded, "Right, we''ve prepared almost everything, so as long as you''re ready to go, we can go there. We should get you to level 10 as soon as possible to get the Bluesky guys off your back."


    "You can say that again. Having your guys following and watching me constantly to make sure nothing happens to me is kind of exhausting, to be honest," with a laugh, Ryan stepped out of the kitchen, "Anyway, I''ll go take a shower now and head to bed. I''ll tell you about the party tomorrow, that was a whole ordeal on its own."


    Runar silently watched as Ryan left, stunned by his nephew''s words. It was true, Runar had assigned the shadow troupe, the same one that had infiltrated that lab with Yamada, to follow and keep an eye on Ryan, so that if something happened, they could intervene. But Runar had never told his nephew about that. He wanted him to be able to just live his life like normal, and knowing he was being followed wouldn''t do him any good there.


    "How the hell does he know that with just that small of an increase in his intuition..?"

 65 - Test Subject

    The scent of sweat filled the air as the dulled clang of metal hitting against metal sounded out. Ryan let out some heavy breaths as he poured some water down his throat.


    "Holy shit, this is... fucking rough," he told the minotaur in front of him exhaustedly. Yanna laughed a bit and nodded her head.


    "Of course, what did you expect? The stat awakening program is rough for everyone," she pointed out, "Though you''re making some pretty good progress. I guess all that fighting is keeping you fit, huh?"


    Ryan scoffed, "Yeah, sure, that''s probably it."


    With a smile, he looked down at his arm, where Tiar was busily moving and twitching. He had decided to go with the ''Skill'' excuse permanently, so it was fine for Tiar to keep moving around even when there were people. And especially in this situation, it seemed like Tiar wouldn''t be able to stop themself anyway.


    Ryan was currently working out in the university''s Awakened gym, where Yanna was helping him learn how to work out to awaken some physical stats. And of course, it was an incredibly intense workout, and Tiar had immediately gone into overdrive to try and help out his growth and recover actively. It seemed like he was doing a great job, too. It was the third day of this training regime, and he hadn''t felt any particular muscle pain at all, and he was able to add a surprising amount to the weight that he was lifting already.


    Of course, the gym offered some drinks that were supposed to help with the recovery quite a bit, but Yanna still seemed shocked that Ryan didn''t have any sore muscles at all when he showed up for his workout today.


    "You ready for cardio?" Yanna asked, and Ryan slowly nodded his head.


    "Let me eat something first," he replied, walking over to his bag to pull out another protein bar. With a raised brow, Yanna glanced at the bar.


    "I know that eating well is good when you want to build strength, but you''re eating like... five times more than you used to. Are you alright?"


    Ryan turned toward her and laughed slightly, "Yeah, I''m fine, I''ve just been feeling super hungry recently."


    "... Since you awakened?"


    "Roughly, yeah. It''s a unique class, we don''t really know what sort of effects it has perfectly. This might have something to do with how I''m keeping up a space to house the spirits?" Ryan suggested, of course lying straight out of his ass. He knew perfectly well why he was eating so much. It was another part of Tiar''s influence, and the more that the symbiote worked, the more Ryan had to eat. It actually seemed like working out made Tiar''s hunger even stronger.


    Runar did say that this was possible with some variant species, though he didn''t seem particularly confident when he did. But since there apparently wasn''t any harm to it and his body was processing all the food properly, Ryan wasn''t particularly concerned.


    Yanna sighed lightly, "As long as you''re sure. But I guess you can afford all that food now, huh..?"


    Ryan tensed up, awkwardly turning toward her, "Yeah... Runar buys all of it, and he gave me a credit card so that I can go and buy all the food, and whatever else I might need, the other day..."


    "I still can''t believe that Runar of all people is supposed to be some big shot old-money heir. I mean, you didn''t know about it, but Runar grew up like that, right? So how''d he end up like... that?"


    Ryan scoffed, shaking his head, "How the hell do I know? I guess he just got kind of sick of acting the part," he suggested. From the perspective of everyone else, Runar was just the lazy, ever-yawning owner of a small caf¨¦ that was closed as often as it was open. Of course, Ryan knew that he was quite active on the hidden side of the Aglecard family, but on the public facing side, he wasn''t known about at all in relation to the Aglecard family. He had done an amazing job at putting himself into the background of things and letting others deal with the parts that he didn''t care about.


    After he was done eating the protein bar, Ryan followed Yanna over to the treadmills. Some of these could apparently go insane speeds, but the ones that could go really fast were surrounded by mats and nets in case someone was thrown off backward to ensure that they didn''t hurt themselves. But the one that Ryan was using now was basically just a regular treadmill with a somewhat higher upper limit. The one that Yanna was using was a bit on the faster side and already had some nets set up behind it.


    "Alright, sprint for one minute, jog for two. For as long as you can," Yanna explained again, and Ryan quickly nodded. He had already done this twice, so he knew what to do, but it was definitely going to be extremely exhausting. Though, that was the point, anyway. This was stamina training, and for him specifically, it was training to let him awaken the stamina stat, so he had to push himself for extended periods of time. And right now, it was to the point of exhaustion.


    Once he started the treadmill up, Ryan quickly moved up in speed to a sprint as the digital clock on the treadmill counted down. After the minute was over, it automatically went down to the jogging speed he set for himself, and in two minutes, it would go back up to the sprint speed. It would continue like this until Ryan turned the machine off.


    "You alright?" Yanna asked, currently still sprinting on her treadmill. Despite that, she was casually talking and not even breathing that heavily. Yanna innately had both the Stamina and Agility stats, so not only was she sprinting at twice the speed that Ryan was, but she could also keep this up for hours. She was actually wearing a weighted vest to make it harder on herself, and even then looked nothing but bored.


    Ryan slowly nodded, already breathing heavily, "Yeah, I''m good. I should be able to keep this up for a while."


    "Good, just keep going for as long as you can, but don''t push yourself. Getting injured will set you back a good bit," Yanna pointed out, and Ryan hesitated for a few moments.


    "Actually, my uncle hired a healer for me... we''re going to a dungeon soon so we can let Maximus level up..."


    "Seriously? A healer?"


    "I know, I know, it''s kind of crazy..." Ryan replied, "... He''s also remodelling the rooftop so we can expand Gaia''s garden. Since I planted all the stuff in the garden right now, she hasn''t had the chance to level up yet."


    "Urgh... rich people," Yanna sighed, and Ryan let out a laugh.


    "You know your family is pretty well off too, right? You own a four-story townhouse in the middle of Oldtown."


    "Well... shut up," with a groan, Yanna glanced over toward him, "But we''re not old-money rich. Like, we can''t just hire a healer. And you also said something about Runar finding spirit cores for you?"


    "Ah, yeah. So, some of the Aglecards'' charities do a lot of work in stuff like... artefact collection, preservation, and restoration, and came across dormant spirit cores that can''t form their own bodies. They look like gemstones so they can be confused for those sometimes," Ryan explained, "And then they started safekeeping them. With my class, it''s better for them to be with me so I can try to wake them up."


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "How does that work, though? Do you just... take them? Do they have a choice?"


    "Of course they do, I''m not forcing anyone here," immediately, almost defensively, Ryan stared at the minotaur, "Maximus wanted me to build his body first before joining me, and Gaia''s core was broken before I found her, so she was just grateful to have been found. No clue what requests the others will have for me, but that''s just part of the deal."


    Yanna stayed silent for a while, as though she was thinking about something. Ryan wasn''t sure what she was going to ask about next, but he was certainly grateful for the chance to not need to talk while sprinting. When he went back down to a jog, Yanna asked her question.


    "So, do you know why some spirits can''t form their own bodies?"


    "Nope," Ryan replied immediately, "I guess it''s just an ability that some of them do, and some of them don''t? I have no clue, really. But what I have learned is that the ones that can''t seem to have more unique ''concepts''. Like Maximus'' ''Knight'' and Gaia''s ''Garden Golem'' concepts."


    "Do you think other spirits know?" Yanna wondered, and Ryan raised a brow.


    "I mean... maybe? That... might be something worth looking into."


    "Yeah, you should! There are a bunch of places with Spirits bound to them in New Riverside. Some of them are apparently powerful enough that they can talk, so you might be able to get some info from them. I mean... if you get them to talk to you, I guess."


    After Yanna''s suggestion, Ryan immediately looked inward at Maximus and Gaia, trying to gauge what they were thinking. It seemed as though they were curious about meeting other spirits as well, so he figured that it at the very least wouldn''t hurt.


    "Alright, I''ll go look up the spirits of New Riverside soon, then."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Surrounded by trees, a massive, old tower reached up into the sky. It was one of the oldest buildings in New Riverside, despite being so far on the outskirts that it was hard to get public transport here. The only other buildings nearby were ones that were more recently constructed as extensions of the Magic Tower''s central structure.


    And here Modak was, standing in front of the large, old door, looking for either a doorbell or even a handle; anything at all that he could use to have the place open. He tried pushing against the door already, but there was nothing here, though it was clearly the main entrance.


    Pulling out his phone in confusion, he checked the instructions. He was sent an email about an introductory tour of the Magic Tower and was told to come inside and ask for the guide at the reception, but Modak couldn''t even get that far.


    "The hell? Is nobody here? At... 2pm on a Wednesday?" he muttered to himself, when suddenly, some patterns on the door lit up as it was pulled open automatically. Taken aback, the man that stepped outside looked at Modak.


    "Oh you... you are Mister Stonebreaker, correct?" the man asked.


    Startled, Modak quickly nodded his head, reaching out his hand, "Yes! Modak Stonebreaker, it''s a pleasure to meet you!"


    The man nodded his head, "Likewise. I''m going to be guiding you through the Magic Tower today. Why didn''t you come inside? Was there some issue?" he asked, concerned.


    "Ah, well... the door wouldn''t open, and I guess I didn''t find the button to have it open?"


    Confused, the man looked around at the door, "It doesn''t have a button, it should be sensing anyone that''s approaching and opening automatically. It looks like something is wrong with the array, then. My apologies."


    "Oh... no, it''s not your fault," Modak replied, quickly shaking his head. If it was supposed to sense mana in people to open up, of course it wouldn''t open for him. He didn''t have any, after all. Luckily most places chose not to use mana-based sensors because they were pretty expensive, but Modak has been faced with things like this a fair amount of times in places like banks or museums.


    "Either way, let''s get inside now," the guide said with a light smile, quickly bringing Modak into the building. And once he was inside, though he had seen this place in pictures before, the young orc''s breath was immediately taken away. The walls were covered in beautiful paintings and maps, at least the parts that weren''t covered in bookshelves. Platforms were magically floating up and down, and basically every surface was giving off a bit of that soft glow that magic circles had.


    It was a beautiful sight, and if he didn''t know it was impossible for him, Modak would have sworn that he felt the ambient magic pass through and fill him with energy.


    And this was only the first stop too. The guide showed Modak around all the big, famous sights of the magic tower, as well as the spaces that usually you weren''t allowed to see. People were using spells that he had never seen before, and using magic tools in ways that he didn''t even know was possible.


    The more they walked around the building, the more excited he felt. He would end up working here soon? This was beyond unbelievable. Sure, his main work was going to be in another building with more modern facilities to accommodate the magical engineers with whatever they needed, but he would still have full access to all the facilities that the Magic Tower had to offer. It was like a dream come true.


    Before long, they came by a group of three mages currently taking a break, and the guide figured it was a good opportunity to introduce the orc.


    "Perfect timing. Looks like you three are no longer the newest hires," the guide said with a smile, "This here is Modak Stonebreaker, he will be working with the new Magic Engineering team."


    Immediately, the three mages raised their brows, happily greeting Modak.


    "So, you''re the one that was scouted by Miss Boreard herself?" one of them asked curiously, and Modak nervously nodded his head.


    "Yes, that''s me. I was working on a personal project that she was quite interested in, so she invited me to continue developing it under the Magic Tower''s guidance," Modak explained. Seeing that this only piqued their curiosity even more.


    "What sort of project?"


    Not sure if he was allowed to say, Modak turned his head toward the guide, who quickly nodded his head. With a slight breath of relief, Modak continued to explain, "Inspired by cassette tapes, I was trying to place mana on some crystal bands for audio storage. Miss Boreard was interested in the idea since it seemed possible to use it as an assistance for spellcasting as a medium to carry mana-imbued audio akin to chants."


    "Oh! That is quite interesting... How exactly does it work?" one of them wondered, and Modak immediately continued on to delve deeper into the methods that his project used to properly engrave mana on the bands, and even his theories for expanding it into a way to truly carry spellcasting potential.


    "Looks like the magic-engineering team is going to work on a couple of pretty interesting projects. So, how about it, do you have the Magic Engineer class? Or some sort of information-related mage class?"


    Modak tensed up, slowly shaking his head, "Oh, no, I''m... I''m not an Awakened."


    One of the mages raised their brows, "Right, got it. That''s even more impressive! So you''re skilled enough to use magic without even awakening? Sounds like we''ve got quite the prodigy here."


    Even more, Modak could feel his throat tighten as he shook his head, "Uhm... no, I can''t actually use magic. Rather, I feel like considering where we are I should be straightforward about this, but I have Mana Rejection Disorder. I don''t even have enough mana for the tower''s main entrance to recognize me," he tried to laugh it off, but the expressions of the mages in front of Modak immediately dropped. Even the guide seemed confused, apparently not having heard about this beforehand.


    Modak didn''t know exactly what those mages were thinking right now. It was something that he hadn''t seen before, like a mixture of disgust and curiosity.


    "You have... no mana at all?" one of them asked, and Modak slowly nodded his head.


    "I-I don''t, yeah."


    "How interesting, and you can function normally like that? I had assumed that mana was necessary for higher function," one of them said as the curiosity seemed to take over, leaning forward, and moving in a bit too close for Modak''s comfort, "Have you been told if this has some sort of effect on your life expectancy? And have you had any IQ-tests done in the past? Oh, and of course, your motor skills are-"


    "Hey, hey, back off!" one of the two mages pulled the third away, and Modak was quite grateful. That was, until she opened her mouth, "Be careful, we don''t know what effects heightened stress may have on individuals without mana for the regulation of mental stability."


    Modak felt sick to his stomach as he stared at the three mages in front of him. Sure, he had been looked at with pity plenty of times before. But this was the first time that he was treated like some kind of wild animal, or even worse... something like a test subject.

 66 - The Garden

    With a soured mood, Modak was led through the Magic Tower. That encounter with those mages wasn''t particularly ''fun'' in any sense of the word. It started out alright, but the moment they heard that Modak didn''t have any mana, they looked at him with this weird mixture of disgust and curiosity. They were treating him as a biological marvel; something that shouldn''t even exist, acting as if the absence of mana inside of him made him some sort of animal, if not lesser than that.


    And it wasn''t just those three mages either. The guide himself became cold, and began to cut his explanations down to the lowest possible degree.


    "Here we have the central library. You may come here whenever you need to look up anything for your research. You are also allowed to use it privately," the guide said without even looking at the young orc. At the very least, Modak was able to ignore it this time. This place was an absolute marvel; a monumental hall filled with hundreds of thousand if not millions of books. It was by far the largest single library he had ever seen before; the university''s library couldn''t even compare to something like this.


    "Now, let''s get to our last stop."


    Not giving Modak the opportunity to let the sight sink in, the guide turned around and headed straight back to the large door that had led them into this hall. A bit dejected, Modak followed the guide, and they made their way through the tower back to its main entrance. But on the way, Modak could feel that the atmosphere had changed considerably.


    At first, he thought that it was nothing and that he was imagining it, but before long it was obvious that people were staring at him. Whispering. And he could overhear some of those whispers, or at least one word that came up again and again. ''Mana''. So everybody knew about it now?


    ''Well, fuck me...'' Modak thought to himself, following the guide out of the main tower. Silently, he was brought to one of the nearby buildings; it was one of the most modern ones, and Modak could guess what this building was for. It was the building for the Magic Engineers, so he would most likely be spending most of his time here.


    The guide led him inside, quickly bringing him to one of the labs. It was a small one in the corner of the building, but there was a small sign on the right side of the door.


    <blockquote>


    Modak Stonebreaker - Magic-Based Audio Storage Research


    </blockquote>


    Just seeing that on there was making Modak''s heart skip a beat. He turned to the man next to him confused.


    "Why is my name on there?"


    The guide glanced at him with an expression that said he felt bothered he even needed to answer something so obvious, "You''re the lead of this project, aren''t you? Of course your name will be on there."


    "No, no, I was told I was allowed to use the resources of the tower to do my work, but not that I would be getting my own... Alicia didn''t tell me about this at all, I-"


    "Alicia? What, do you believe yourself to be on a first-name basis with the Mistress?" the guide asked, and Modak flinched back slightly. He was so used to Runar and Ryan speaking about her with her first name that he had maybe gotten a bit too used to it.


    "That''s not the point, I-"


    "There were clear instructions that you are to be given your own laboratory to do your work without interference. A research assistant has been assigned to you as well."


    Being told that confused Modak even more, "Research assistant? I only just finished my first semester at Uni, I''m 18 years old! What do you mean ''research assistant''?"


    "Clearly, Miss Boreard has some high expectations for you. You better not betray them," the guide said, already turning back around, "The tour is over. Feel free to ask your assistant about any other questions you may have."


    Modak watched as the man disappeared without another word. With a click of his tongue, the orc pushed open the door to the lab with his name at the front, quickly stepping inside. It was a relatively small space, but even at a glance he could tell that it was well-equipped with tools leagues above the university''s Magic Engineering tools. They were so dazzling that Modak almost passed over the more than three-metre tall Cyclops sitting in the centre of the room, currently reading a book.


    The moment she saw him step inside, she jumped up from her seat, "Oh! You must be Mister Stonebreaker, right? I''m Margaret Latch, feel free to call me Marge! I''ll be your assistant on this project!"


    A bit taken aback, Modak looked up at her. She was at least thirty years older than him, and she was supposed to be his assistant?


    "Please, no, call me Modak. It''s a pleasure to meet you," he said, stretching out his hand to shake Marge''s, and she quickly did the same.


    "In that case, don''t mind if I do," with a smile, Marge placed her book onto the table next to her, "So you came up with that wonderful idea for mana-based cassettes?"


    Slowly, Modak nodded his head, "Yeah... but it''s nothing all that special, really. I feel like this whole thing is a bit overblown..."


    With a laugh, Marge shook her head, "Who knows what sort of practical benefits this could have? I''m sure Miss Boreard had her reasons for hiring you and making you the lead of a project like this. And speaking of..."


    The cyclops quickly walked over to one of the tables that had a computer setup. On the screen were all the notes that Modak had taken and sent to Alicia in advance.


    "The detail that you put into this is impressive. The way you wrote this made me think you were going to be twice your age. But turns out you''re younger than my kids, huh?"


    Modak''s heart anxiously skipped a beat, "I-If you''re not comfortable working with me on this project because of my age, I can-"


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "No, no, that''s not what I meant," Marge laughed, "As I said, it''s impressive! It actually makes me just that much more excited to work on this. Actually, I already had a couple of ideas that could help us improve the base data-storage cassettes."


    With a sigh of relief, Modak took off the jacket of the suit that he borrowed from his dad. It looked like he would be here for a while longer than he thought he would be, so he might as well get comfortable.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Ah-ah-ah, hold on! Hold on!" Ryan said, staring at the face of the stone wyvern in front of him. The elemental opened her mouth slightly, as if anxiously waiting for something. The flames behind her brick fangs were waving back and forth.


    And then, Ryan threw the piece of metal in his hand into the air, as the forge elemental quickly jumped at it, catching it in her mouth. Immediately, as though she was excited, she looked over at Ryan who was already closing in. With a grin, he rubbed the underside of her chin with a wire brush.


    "Good job, girl!" he said in an excited voice, as the elemental leaned into his brushing.


    "She really took a liking to you, huh?" coming up toward the old smithy, Runar raised his brow, and Ryan quickly turned toward him with a smile.


    "I guess so."


    With a light scoff, Runar crossed his arms, "But really, teaching her tricks now?"


    "Well, why not? She seems to have fun with it. Not like she gets to do much of anything down here," Ryan pointed out as he slowly pulled away from the forge, as the wyvern let out a loud yawn. She turned back toward the wall that she usually stood against, carefully placing her body into that spot for a post-meal nap. Ryan turned back to his uncle, "So, did you need something?"


    "Not really," Runar replied, though he had a broad grin on his face, "I just figured I''d let you know that the new garden is ready."


    Ryan raised his brow, "Seriously? Already?"


    "Not like it was a massive upgrade, you know? Though I agree it was pretty fast. And I think they did a great job, too," Runar pointed out, as Ryan quickly looked inwardly at Gaia, who also seemed to be incredibly excited about these news.


    At first, Ryan had hoped that she would be able to just make an area down here her garden, but the only real reason why there were any plants down here in the first place was because of the dryads that had settled here. Gaia didn''t seem comfortable taking any of the space away from them, plus, Ryan wasn''t down here all too often. He only came down here to take care of the forge elemental, since she really did seem to like Ryan quite a bit.


    They quickly made their way up the stairs back to the caf¨¦, and Runar turned around a few times to check on his nephew, "You alright? With how much you''re working out I thought you''d be in pain all over at this point, but you''re even more energetic than normal."


    With a grin, Ryan glanced at his left arm, "Tiar''s doing a pretty good job at helping me out, clearly."


    "Looks like it," Runar scoffed. It didn''t take much longer until they had made their way up to the flat, quickly stepping out on the balcony. Gaia quickly stepped out of her domain and looked around. Just here, the space had already been changed quite a bit. The cheap pots that were standing here before were replaced with large, high-quality planters. But this wasn''t even the highlight of it all.


    Next to the door now stood a stairway reaching up to the flat roof that had been fully renovated into a rooftop garden. Not only were there regular-sized steps here, but also a few smaller ones for Gaia with her stout legs to walk up, and even smaller ones for her small assistants that she could split off from her body.


    Quickly, Ryan and Gaia made their way to the new rooftop garden. In front of them not only stood fairly large, flat plots of soil, but even a greenhouse  taking up about a quarter of the space. Next to it was a small shed that seemed to be filled with soil, fertilizer, and a bunch of tools that were not only the perfect size for Gaia, but also a bunch that Ryan could use to help her out here and there however she needed. Pots in a dozen different sizes were stacked up inside there as well. They had apparently even set up a faucet so that it was easy to get water here in the garden.


    Clearly excited, Gaia looked around the garden, wanting to get right to work. And that was when a message popped up in front of Ryan.


    <hr>


    [Gaia''s Garden has been expanded]


    <hr>


    Since that seemed to be taken care of as well, and Gaia could properly use her skills on this space, Ryan felt that everything was perfectly set up to let them get started. With a smile, Ryan pulled out the three seed packets from Gaia''s domain. Since they wanted to wait until the rooftop garden was ready, they hadn''t planted them yet, but there was no reason to wait any longer now.


    Ryan quickly handed the seed packets to Gaia, who excitedly took them over to the greenhouse to prepare them properly. The workbench there was perfectly her height, though Ryan would need to help her reach the higher shelves, but he didn''t mind. He quickly grabbed whatever she needed, like some small pots, soil, and a spray-bottle that he quickly filled with water.


    But looking at the spray-bottle, Gaia quickly shook her head as her two sub-golems split off her body, reaching out to grab the bottle from Ryan. Curiously, he followed them to see what they were about to do. They quickly pointed at one of the large plastic buckets and then at the faucet, so Ryan quickly filled it up with water and put it down. One of the sub-golems had, by then, opened the fertilizer bag and grabbed a small amount of it, quickly throwing it into the water. The sub-golems then pushed over a stick to Ryan, and he quickly understood what they wanted.


    He stirred the fertilizer into the water to make a mixture. It looked like the fertilizer would last for quite a while like this. Once it seemed properly dissolved, the two sub-golems, climbing on top of each other, filled the spray-bottle with this mixture instead, and quickly brought it back to Gaia while Ryan closed the bucket up and put it into the corner of the shed for now.


    "Already pretty busy, huh?" Runar laughed a bit, and Ryan shrugged with a smile on his face.


    "Seems so. I''m glad, though. Gaia looks like she''s having fun," Ryan pointed out, looking in through the glass of the greenhouse. There, Gaia was preparing small pots to let the different seeds germinate.


    "Ah, wait, I bought something for today," Ryan said with a smile, quickly rushing back down the stairs. He made his way to his bedroom, quickly grabbing a box that he had prepared. Runar curiously took a look.


    "What''s that?" he asked, and Ryan quickly opened it up. It was filled with even more seed packets, though these seemed to have been bought from a store instead of being provided by Gaia''s class.


    "Some cabbage, carrots, corn, cucumbers... a bunch of different herbs... Oh, and watermelons and pumpkins. I also have like a dozen different flowers here. Just a bunch of stuff, really. Figured it might make a good surprise gift for her."


    Runar raised his brow, "Surprise? But you''re always together."


    "I mean, they can''t see what I see when they''re not in my domain, so I just ordered them online and unpacked them while she was on the balcony the other day," Ryan replied as if it were obvious, quickly walking up to Gaia with the seeds in hand. Watching as the Golem enthusiastically grabbed them, Runar let out a slight laugh and leaned against the newly-installed railing. He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture, though he was fumbling a bit. It ended up with Ryan a but blurry, but you could still tell it was him.


    With a smile, Runar sent the picture to Ryan''s mother, Mary, adding a quick message to the photo, ''You raised a hell of a good kid''.


    He pushed his phone into his pocket, and shouted over to Ryan, "I''ll be heading back downstairs. Let me know if you need something."


    Ryan turned around and smiled, "Will do! Thanks for this, by the way."


    "Don''t even mention it."

 67 - Amusement Park

    Ryan walked down an old, clearly abandoned path. Following behind him was Runar, who would be watching his nephew''s back.


    "So, why exactly do you keep this place to yourself? And how, even?" Ryan asked, looking around. He was standing in front of a dungeon. It was an old amusement park that had long fallen into disrepair, being taken back over by nature. Mana had gathered here and slowly turned into a dungeon over time. Now, beyond the turnstiles, the space had become enlarged and distorted; you couldn''t even see inside, as everything was blocked by a layer of thick mist.


    Runar thought about it for a moment, "So, our family owned the amusement park for a while now. After it went under, the plan apparently was to turn it into some kind of facility or another, but then plans changed, people were swapped out, and it was just sort of forgotten, always just blocked off with that security fence. Since it''s so far outside of New Riverside, people just forgot about it. And with a simple barrier, we can keep it hidden from any dungeon-sensors as well."


    "... Alright, but that doesn''t really answer why you''re keeping a dungeon hidden," Ryan pointed out. It seemed like Runar was trying to avoid answering the question, but it was clear that he couldn''t keep doing that.


    "... We''re using it as a training ground. Technically, that is very, extremely illegal. It''s a particularly aggressive dungeon, with low resource and research ratings. It would be a high-priority target for destruction. Dungeons with lower aggression or greater usefulness are usually kept open for an extended period if time to act as potential fodder for Awakened, but at the end of the day, every dungeon has to be destroyed within one year of it being found," Runar explained, "But this one was too beneficial for us to let up. It has a large variety of monsters with many different abilities. There are ''puzzles'', illusions, mazes, whatever would be useful for training new operatives. At the same time, it''s predictable enough that we can make it as safe as possible for those new operatives to learn."


    "Okay, sure, but... isn''t it dangerous like this?" Ryan asked, looking at the entrance of the amusement park, "Wouldn''t it reach Stage 3 at some point?"


    "If it weren''t for the barrier, maybe. But this dungeon is basically as old as you are, and we''ve been able to contain it in Stage 2 since then. So instead of advancing to Stage 3, it just keeps expanding inwardly with the mana it keeps accumulating," Runar explained, patting his nephew on the back, "Now stop worrying and get in there. I''ll be watching and giving you tips if you need them, but otherwise I''ll be staying behind. Can''t have Maximus feeling too safe, or else that''s going to dampen his levelling speed."


    "Right... Then let''s get started. Gotta properly use the new armour that Silvia made," Ryan looked down at his body with a smile. It had a similar use to the outfit that he wore in the Abandoned Copper Foundry, in that it practically turned him into Maximus'' Armoury. The main difference was that much more powerful materials were used now that they had the resources of the Aglecards.


    Initially, the plan was to let Silvia just design the armour and then have other people actually construct it, but now, with her being an Awakened too, it was a much smarter idea to have her work on it herself, letting Silvia and Ryan grow alongside each other. Of course, the Aglecard craftsmen supported her and taught her more about what was important when making an armour, but she did the actual designing, planning, and crafting. And since Silvia still chose to see this as an expression of art, her skills applied pretty well. Since she was trying to match the way that Ryan usually moved when he fought, the armour had improved mobility due to Silvia''s skills, even if it was minuscule at this point.


    Though, since Silvia wanted to make sure her skills actually applied, she may have gone a little overboard in her choice in patterns and designs. This outfit was quite flashy and vibrant. Ryan didn''t mind, but it ended up coming together with a pretty unique vibe. Like if you mixed streetwear with some bits and pieces of medieval armour.


    However, the weapons that Maximus was going to use were different to the improvised weapons that Ryan, Silvia, and Modak had bought, which were really just cooking tools. Instead, they were weapons that had been specially created for Maximus by the Aglecard craftsmen to better fit the tiny Knight''s proportions.


    Hammers, axes, swords, spears, halberds, shields; they might have even gone a bit overboard with the amount of weapons they made for Maximus, but since he seemed to be able to make skilled use of everything they could think of, the craftsmen were pretty enthusiastic. They were all attached to Ryan''s outfit in a way that he could swap everything out easily whenever Maximus needed it.


    Ryan held his hand forward, and Maximus, whose right arm was swapped out for the Crusader armour piece to give him a bit more power, stepped out of the domain through his fingertips.


    "Are you ready?" He asked, squatting down in front of him, and Maximus quickly nodded. At the same time, though, Gaia seemed to want to come out of her domain as well.


    "Oh? Are you sure? You don''t have a combat class, you don''t have to... Rather, I''m- Well, no, I''m not saying you can''t handle yourself, don''t worry, but-" Ryan nervously looked at the golem sitting inside of her domain, silently staring at him. Raising his brow, Runar looked at his nephew.


    "What''s going on?"


    "... Gaia wants to come out and help as well. And I''m sure she could be helpful, but... I don''t want to use her as a distraction, and frankly, she''s not agile enough for combat," Ryan pointed out, though Gaia seemed to want to come out anyway. Her green, threaded mana poured out of his body and soon appeared next to Ryan.


    Runar laughed quietly, "Well, if she wants to join, I''m sure she has her reasons. Though... I do agree that it''s a bit too dangerous for her to simply join combat."


    Turning over toward Runar, Gaia seemed to be looking at something. The backpack that he was currently wearing. It was Ryan''s backpack, filled with emergency supplies and a ton of snacks. It also had some metal rebar attached to it that Ryan could use for the ''Spirit Armament'' skill during an emergency. Runar had decided that it made more sense for him to carry it around and let Ryan focus on his training. If Ryan needed anything, Runar could be there at a moment''s notice anyway. But even so, Gaia walked up to him, and held her hand toward him.


    After a bit of hesitation, Ryan raised his brow, "I''m pretty sure she wants you to give her the backpack."


    Looking down at the Golem, Runar shrugged. He squatted down and helped her put it on, though it didn''t seem to fit her perfectly. After tightening the straps a bit more, it seemed like Gaia would be able to carry it without problem, though.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "If you want that to be your part in this, then maybe we should have a bag made specifically for you," Runar suggested, and Gaia quickly turned around, returning back to Ryan''s side. Though, he was still a bit concerned.


    "No need to be too protective of her. She''s literally made of rock. If you need to, just pull her back into her domain, and she''ll be fine," Runar suggested, "Either way, let''s just get started."


    "Right. Let''s go," Ryan agreed, and the small group quickly stepped up to the turnstiles. They pushed their way through, and almost immediately, the mist parted from in front of them. Instead, it had moved to the other side of the entrance, disallowing them to see what was outside of the dungeon. But Ryan couldn''t even concentrate on that right now. The concentration of the ''Dungeon Air'' was overwhelming.


    He felt dizzy for a few moments, though he luckily adjusted quickly enough. While Ryan was taking steady breaths to get used to the mana-filled surroundings, Runar walked up to a nearby stand, grabbing an old pamphlet that he quickly brought over and handed to Ryan.


    "What''s this?"


    "A map of the dungeon," Runar responded as if it were obvious, and with a raised brow, Ryan grabbed it and unfolded the pamphlet into a large map that he could barely hold up with both of his hands stretched out fully.


    "Excuse me?" he asked, glancing around the map. He found the entrance pretty quickly. From there, paths branched off into every direction. Though it was covered in damage from wetness, as well as cuts and tears and bites from bugs, Restaurants, rides, and even the old petting zoo were marked on the map again and again. So did the colour-coded ''sections'' of the park, split up into different themes. These sections spread around almost randomly and repeated themselves up to the map''s edges, clearly continuing on even beyond it, "Wait, is this seriously a map? You guys made a pamphlet?"


    Runar scoffed, "Not us. The dungeon. I mean, I guess it realized that maps were a big deal here in the ''memories'' of this place. It understands what it needs to display, it just doesn''t realize that under normal circumstances, this would be a death sentence."


    With a smile, Runar glanced around the map and soon pointed to a small building that only appeared a single time in the whole dungeon. The administration building.


    "The core room''s in there. But because we don''t plan on destroying this place, we''ve been able to just ignore it after realizing what it is, so the dungeon never realized how bad of an idea this is."


    "Now I get why you use this place for training... this goes beyond even ''predictable'', man," Ryan scoffed, "So, where do we go first?"


    Glancing at the watch on his wrist, Runar thought about it for a moment and quickly decided, "Around this time, it would be best to stick to this part, the ''plaza''. The opponents are fairly weak humanoids, albeit a bit creepy."


    "Alright, how do they fight and attack?"


    "Why would I tell you that?" Runar scoffed, and Ryan narrowed his eyes confused.


    "Excuse me?"


    "Use that ridiculous intuition of yours and figure it out. That''s part of the training. Again, they''re pretty weak, so it''s nothing too dangerous. And if anything happens, I''ll step in, so just calm down."


    Ryan sighed lightly, looking down at the map with an annoyed sigh. He quickly walked down the path in front of him while Runar carefully built up the distance between them to the point where Ryan actually wasn''t able to see him anymore. He had a rough guess of where he was, but he couldn''t say for sure. He walked for a while until the cobbled path slowly changed. At the side of the road stood old, rundown shops and restaurants, as if this were some kind of small town. Though the colour had mostly faded, Ryan had a pretty good idea about what this place used to look like when the park was still active.


    Properly folding the map back up, Ryan quickly placed it into the backpack Gaia was carrying, and then looked around, squatting behind an old food stand. He couldn''t see anything, but the hair on the back of his neck stood up anxiously. That was when the sound of feet dragging over the ground could be heard, and Ryan took a peek into the direction where the sound came from. And immediately, he understood why Runar called the monsters in this part of the dungeon ''creepy''.


    What was walking aimlessly down road was an old, broken-down mascot. It was seemingly supposed to be some kind of humanoid dragon with a massive bulbous head. The costume was torn in many places, and everywhere it wasn''t torn, it was covered in a solid layer of dirt and grime.


    Truly, it was the kind of thing you had nightmares about.


    "Fucking hell..." Ryan groaned, looking around the area. This mascot was a bit too out in the open. There were probably more wandering around in those old shops, so if they were to fight in the middle of the road, they could attract other monsters and end up surrounded. Ryan would really like to drag the mascot off to a more secluded area.


    Ryan picked up a small pebble off the ground, throwing it on the ground near the mascot to see how well it reacted. It seemed to flinch for a moment, glancing at the pebble, and then walked toward it curiously. Though, after staring and kicking at it once or twice, it quickly moved on again.


    "Hm..." Ryan sat there and thought for a few moments, trying to find the best spot to lure the monster to. Nearby, there was an alley that seemed like it could provide good cover for them. But at the same time, it was also going to block them from seeing out on the road, and that felt a bit too risky in this circumstance where enemies could come from any direction. And that was when an idea popped into Ryan''s head.


    "Gaia... can you split off your two sub-golems for a moment?" he asked, and Gaia quickly replied with a nod. Two rocks dropped from her torso, quickly becoming humanoid golems the size of Maximus. And then, Ryan activated one of his skills, Spirit Link. A green thread connected him to Gaia, and his awareness was expanded by what she saw. But that wasn''t all; the thread also expanded to each of the two sub-golems.


    Instead of having information from just one more perspective, he received information from three additional perspectives. It was disorienting beyond belief, much more so than when he first connected with Maximus, but it wasn''t to the point where Ryan couldn''t handle it when he concentrated properly.


    "This is perfect," he grinned lightly, quickly turning toward Maximus, "You''ve seen the monster too, right? What weapon do you want?"


    The knight thought about it for a few moments. He held up two fingers, his index finger and thumb specifically, the sign they came up with for the polearms, and then held up his index, middle, and ring fingers, specifying one of the glaives. Ryan quickly pulled it off his armour and handed it to Maximus, who quickly tightened his grasp around it before nodding to Ryan with satisfaction.


    "In that case, let''s get started," Ryan said, carefully glancing over toward the mascot. He mentally focused on one of the two sub-golems. Since it was just an empty hull without its own consciousness, Ryan was able to control it perfectly. It looked like Gaia did that, usually, but in this case she ceded that right to Ryan.


    These sub-golems, while a lot smaller, were also a bit faster than Gaia was. That was why Ryan was pretty confident in using them to distract the monster and lure it into the nearby alley. The sub-golem jumped up and down a few times near the monster, and the dragon mascot quickly turned toward it. Reacting immediately, the monster started moving toward the small figure, and Ryan instantly had it turn around and run away. The sub-golem quickly hid in-between some plants, and as the mascot got close enough, the other sub-golem jumped on a shard of a broken pane of glass, cracking it further.


    The mascot''s attention was drawn away from the first over to the second sub-golem. With its attention pulled away, the first sub-golem moved to the next position, and just like that, Ryan carefully guided the, clearly quite simple-minded, monster into the alleyway. Once inside, Ryan, Maximus, and Gaia followed. Gaia stood at the very back, keeping watch with one of the sub-golems. Ryan stood in front of her, facing the mascot, while Maximus was going to be the main combatant.


    Behind the mascot, trapped at the alley''s dead-end, was the other sub-golem, giving Ryan a clear view of every angle of the alleyway.


    And so, he gave Maximus the signal to start the fight.

 68 - The Amusement Park

    With the glaive in his hand, Maximus ran at the monster that only just now realized that it had been surrounded. Though, the first thing that it laid eyes on was not its attacker, but the man that stood so proudly in front of it.


    Seeing the intruder, the dragon mascot quickly reacted, as its mouth opened, revealing a half-rotten maw with blackened and yellowed teeth and a snake-like split tongue. It snarled, bearing its fangs to try and threaten Ryan, not even realizing that Maximus was jumping to try and cut into its leg. The fabric of the costume was cut just as easily as Ryan thought, but he didn''t expect the dark blood to gush out from the wound.


    The mascot''s mouth opened in pain, as if it was about to yell out and call for others of its kind, but somehow not a single sound left its mouth.


    "So that''s what he meant... they can''t even call for help," Ryan muttered to himself, "Though I feel kinda bad, it''s like we''re ganging up on it."


    Maximus continued cutting into the monster''s leg, causing blood to pour out from every wound, until he struck bone. Ryan could hear a crack as the small knight splintered the mascot''s bone, forcing it to fall onto its knee in pain. The monster lashed out with claws sharper than they appeared at first glance, but Maximus was able to avoid the attack pretty easily. It was just the monster haphazardly attacking without even realizing what was going on. Its movements were jolted and awkward, like a mascot''s movements often were in the first place.


    "Maximus, its tail!" Ryan warned, getting information from one of the sub-golems that was still on the other side of the alley, seeing the mascot''s backside. Through it, Ryan noticed that the mascot was trying to use that thick dragon''s tail to swing at Maximus, and was able to warn him.


    Though, Maximus was in the midst of a jump, trying to stab into the body of a mascot to actually be able to take it down. With the tail whipping toward Maximus, he was able to twist his body and held the glaive in front of him. He stabbed into the tail, but was still thrown away back toward Ryan, just with the glaive having been lost; it was now stuck in the mascot''s tail.


    Maximus slid over the ground, his legs scratching up as he tried to stop himself. He turned toward Ryan and gave him a signal for a new weapon; a large, two-handed greatsword, which Ryan quickly gave to him.


    But at the same time, Ryan realized something else; he couldn''t just leave Maximus to fight against the monsters all on his own. Even if it might lower the experience that Maximus could gain, if it would speed up the process, wouldn''t it speed up the process if Ryan could at least distract or block the monster for a while?


    Ryan stepped up to Gaia, grabbing one of the metal rebars tied to it. Glancing at the back of his hand, he saw a confused question-mark from Tiar, and Ryan quickly shook his head.


    "No, we''re not using that skill right now, sorry," he explained, "Later, if we need it."


    Immediately, Ryan stepped up toward the mascot, which was distracted by Maximus'' slashes. It seemed like by now, it had expected Ryan to only act as an observer, so it didn''t notice when the metal bar was swung at it. The metal bar hit the monster''s arm, and Ryan was quickly taken aback by how... dense it felt.


    Frankly, and he wasn''t particularly proud of this, but it wasn''t the first time Ryan used this kind of metal bar to beat someone up, and the person in question was literally a Giant almost twice Ryan''s height, and even then it didn''t feel like he was striking a wall to the level that it did here. Clearly, they weren''t dealing with a ''Level 1'' monster as they did in the other dungeon.


    The way a dungeon monster''s levels worked was similar to that of an Awakened. At ''Level 1'', they were just as strong as they physically could be without the system''s support. Since this mascot was clearly some kind of living being with fabric as skin, its muscles, fat, and bones had to adhere to the biological rules that even the dungeon couldn''t ignore while trying to create these monsters. However, a dungeon didn''t have to create monsters at ''Level 1'', but could strengthen them. If they had enough mana, this could happen at the moment of creation, which seemed to be the case here. Weaker or younger dungeons had to use certain ritualistic patterns to create higher-levelled monsters, as was the case in the Abandoned Copper Foundry, where the monsters were covered in molten copper to increase their level, as if to have them absorb more mana once enough had been gathered.


    But since this dungeon didn''t need to use any mana on expansion, it could gather all that mana within itself to create stronger monsters right off the bat. Ryan figured that this monster was probably level 3 or 4. Though, compared to a creature made completely of rock and metal, it still seemed much easier to take care of.


    Nonetheless, it seemed like Ryan''s attack wasn''t useless in any way, despite the high physical stats of this monster. While it wasn''t enough to do any real damage, it was enough to at least distracted the mascot for a while as Maximus stabbed his sword right into a part of its body where its liver should be. As the monster recoiled in pain for a moment, Ryan swung the rebar at it again, this time aiming for its head. From that first attack, he could tell that he really wouldn''t be able to do more than stun the monster.


    And just as he thought, the attack didn''t do much damage, but it had stunned it enough for Maximus to climb up its body and stab his sword between its ribs into its heart. The mascot opened its mouth for a cry of pain as its body was covered in deep cuts and dark blood. It was going to die now, most certainly, but even so, it couldn''t scream.


    However, staring into that dark maw, Ryan saw something. A small spark.


    "Oh, fuck off..." Ryan groaned, quickly kicking the monster''s chest. It still didn''t react much, but already being injured and weakened so much, and on its knee due to its broken bones, the monster still lost its balance to a degree. Maximus also quickly reacted, jumping up at the monster''s throat. With a quick slash, the flames that the dragon mascot conjured up were diffused, not escaping through its mouth as they should, but through its gargled, wet throat.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    An explosion of blood and flesh shot outward, covering Ryan and Maximus in the gore of the now clearly dead mascot, also giving Ryan a perfect view of the monster''s interior for a few moments. Just like he thought, it was like a person in the shape of a mascot, rather than just a costume that had come to life. A heart, flesh, muscles, bones; it had everything that it needed, in mostly the right places, just stretched out to fill the disproportional body of a mascot.


    Truthfully, the sight almost made Ryan hurl right there, especially because of the blood and flesh stuck to his clothes and in his hair, but luckily the monster fell apart pretty quickly after its death. Not only the parts that were on the ground in front of Ryan, but also the parts that were covering him right here, quickly fell apart into mana and dissipated into the air until there wasn''t a single trace of the gory scene that they found themselves in just a few moments earlier.


    <hr>


    [You have killed a Level 3 -Dragon Mascot-]


    <hr>


    Ryan stared at the message in front of him. It was just as he thought; a dungeon as old as this would have its monsters established within the system. The copper foundry just referred to everything as ''Dungeon Monsters'', but here, they were probably given more unique names.


    With a loud groan, Ryan looked down at his body to make sure that everything really disappeared and then looked at Maximus. With a smile, he spoke to the knight.


    "Good job, man. I guess these guys really are pretty... passive. I get why Runar said we should go with these ones first," Ryan pointed out, watching the monster''s corpse disappear, "They''re dull and can''t move well. While they''re physically strong, they''re not invincible... they''re really easy to trick, can''t call for more monsters, and have regular humanoid weaknesses. Even if clearly they have some more abilities than that... They''re probably some of the best opponents we could ask for right now."


    He said this for a few reasons. For one, because they were clearly quite easy for them to handle, and also, because it helped Ryan and Maximus get used to this... sight. Though, Maximus didn''t seem all too bothered in the first place. But Ryan felt kind of sick; he just killed a monster that might as well have been a person, though they didn''t appear like it at first glance. Plenty of dungeon monsters look and act like living creatures, though they''re not really alive in any sense of the word. Getting used to taking them down was imperative.


    Once the mascot fully broke apart and disappeared, there were only two things laying in the spot where the corpse was just a few moments earlier. For one, the glaive that was stuck in the mascot''s tail, and two, a small coin. Curiously, Ryan picked it up from the ground and took a closer look. It was made of hard plastic and had a very simple design.


    "Hm... So... what is this supposed to be?" Ryan asked, though of course he didn''t get a response from anyone. Runar was watching from afar, but he didn''t seem like he would care to fill Ryan in at this point. So, Ryan picked up the glaive, placed it back onto the slot on his clothes, and quickly walked over to Gaia and placed the coin into the backpack.


    "Are you ready to continue?" Ryan asked. He still had a few minutes left on the Spirit Link to Gaia, and he wanted to try and make use of it somehow. Since everyone seemed ready to go, Ryan quickly walked over to the sub-golems and picked them up, as the small group carefully made their way back onto the main road. They walked around with Ryan in the front, carefully crouching around. Whenever there were corners or things he was trying to hide behind, he held forward the sub-golems to use them as extra pairs of eyes that were easier to hide than he himself.


    It didn''t take long until the found the next monster. It was inside an old restaurant. Like the one before, it was a mascot, but instead of being a dragon, it seemed to be some kind of winged wolf. Ryan didn''t know what it was supposed to be, but that didn''t really matter, anyway. They just had to be careful when dealing with this monster, like before.


    Ryan carefully led the others inside the restaurant, having Gaia stay in a spot where she was safe and covered, while leaving one of the sub-golems near the door. The other one, he let go near the wall, having it make its way to the other side of the room to provide another perspective, before Ryan and Maximus hid behind a counter. The monster wandered around the room, kicking at furniture that was in its way and staring at some of the random decoration, standing still for a while whenever it did.


    Ryan glanced down at Maximus and pointed toward the direction he should go, since the mascot wasn''t looking. With a nod, the knight did as told and quickly sneaked over toward the wall with the cover of the old furniture. At that point, Ryan moved around the counter toward the monster with its back turned. He held the rebar tightly, and took a deep breath before swinging the metal bar at the monster''s leg.


    Frankly, this was most likely a stupid idea, but Ryan was almost actively trying to act reckless in this case. He trusted his uncle to step in if something went wrong, plus, they had the healer on call when needed. It was probably the best time for Ryan to experiment with his role in this partnership with the spirits, particularly in combat, to try and see where and how he could be useful without impeding Maximus'' growth.


    However, in this case, it might have been a bit too reckless, as this monster seemed physically even stronger than the one they had just taken down. Its leg slightly buckled at the attack, but it didn''t drop down as it swung its body around to Ryan. It immediately responded by lunging at him with its massive fangs, and he instinctively stabbed forward the rebar into the monster''s mouth. Almost impaling itself on the blunt weapon as the monster continued to try and attack Ryan with its claws and its feet, Ryan could feel himself be pushed back.


    The mascot was strong, incredibly so, and was easily fighting back against Ryan. He slid over the ground as if he were standing on ice, still tightly holding onto the metal bar, until they passed by the spot that Maximus had been standing. He jumped out and swung his greatsword at the monster''s ankle, activating his ''Knight Attack'' skill to coat it with Aura. With the monster''s own momentum and said Aura working together, Maximus was able to cleanly detach the mascot''s foot from its body, causing it to stumble forward before it could even realize.


    Ryan let go of the rebar and stepped side, hooking the monster''s other foot with his own, destroying any chance it had at stopping the fall. Due to its generally dull movements, the mascot quickly fell forward without being able to stop itself with his arms or by holding onto something nearby. The metal rebar pierced through its throat and came out through the back of its neck, just barely dodging completely shattering its spine. The monster was flailing as a puddle of blood formed around it, and Maximus quickly jumped onto its body and stabbed the aura-coated sword through the back of its head, killing the monster instantly.


    <hr>


    [You have killed a Level 4 -Fenrir Mascot-]


    [Maximus has levelled up!]


    [The -Knight''s Attack- Skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    "A fenrir mascot, huh? So that''s what that was..." Ryan muttered, looking down at the monster''s body as it fell apart. At the same time, Ryan looked down at the small knight beside him.


    "Congrats on reaching level 4, bud."

 69 - Cores Galore

    Putting the large pot down in the corner of the rooftop garden, Ryan let out a long breath. He turned over toward Gaia, who was currently watering the small plots of dirt that seemed to be coming along quite well.


    This area currently carried the seeds of the three magical plants that they had attained through Gaia''s class; Blue Mint, Glass Tulips, and Blood Roses. They were coming along quite well under the golem''s care, and due to their magical nature, they had already sprouted, and those sprouts were seemingly growing on Gaia''s body as well.


    The seeds that were being germinated in the greenhouse were growing well too, though they would take some time longer to grow well. Gaia put the watering can to the side and carefully patted down some of the soil, as a system message popped up in front of Ryan''s eyes.


    <hr>


    [Gaia has levelled up!]


    <hr>


    Quickly, Ryan turned his head toward the spirit, "Oh! Gaia, you''re level 4!"


    The golem nodded her head excitedly, and Ryan quickly waved the message away before pulling up Gaia''s status window to give it a quick look.


    <hr>


    [Gaia]


    [Garden Golem | Level - 4(+1)]


    [MP - 42(+3.5)]


    [Stats]


    -[Intuition - 0.89(+0.06)]


    -[Mana - 1.05(+0.08)]


    -[Naturalism - 1.04(+0.09)]


    -[Sociability - 0.88(+0.07)]


    -[Spirituality - 1.04(+0.08)]


    [Skills]


    -[Garden Golem''s Division | Level - 4]


    -[Garden Golem''s Eye | Level - 2]


    -[Golem''s Garden | Level - 4]


    <hr>


    With a smile, Ryan pulled out his phone and opened the notes app, quickly jotting down the stat increases. He was noting down all the changes whenever the spirits levelled up themselves or one of their skills.


    "Another 0.38 total increase... your stat growth is pretty high," Ryan pointed out with a smile on his face, just when someone started walking up the stairs from the balcony.


    Runar''s head peeked out from behind the edge of the rooftop, "Ryan, they''re here."


    "They, as in... the cores?" he replied, and Runar immediately responded with a nod. Quickly, Ryan rushed over to the steps, "Gaia, come on! Let''s go see the other spirits!"


    Gaia quickly looked around, calling the two sub-golems back over to her, before they quickly combined back into her body. The spirit soon rushed up to Ryan, falling apart into green threads that flowed into his body.


    "Let me go get Maximus as well, he should be reading in my room," Ryan explained, and Runar let out a long sigh.


    "Sorry about that, I should have brought everything upstairs. I keep forgetting you can''t be all that far away from them yet."


    "Wait, ''yet''?" Ryan repeated, following his uncle down the steps and back inside of the flat. Runar quickly nodded.


    "One of the Spirit Keeper''s skills allows the spirits to act independently for a certain period of time. I asked for some books to be delivered together with the cores, so take a look at them later. They should have some info about skills you might get in the future, as well as info about the past Spirit Keepers," Runar explained, heading over to the flat''s door while Ryan went over to his bedroom, grabbing a small piece of candy from the kitchen on the way.


    Maximus was deeply engrossed in his new favourite story, so Ryan felt a bit bad about tearing him away from that. But the moment that Ryan mentioned that the spirit cores arrived, Maximus jumped up from his improvised seat and rushed into his domain so that they could get moving. Ryan found that level of excitement almost cute. Maximus acted almost childlike sometimes.


    Runar then quickly led Ryan downstairs below the basement. He waved at the people walking around; those who worked or lived here.


    By now, Ryan was down here basically every day, and he was introduced to pretty much everyone here. They knew him, and he knew them. He even felt like he was able to communicate with some of the species that couldn''t actively speak, like the Sprites, Dryads, and Geodes. Of course, he couldn''t actively speak with them, but maybe through a combination of his Intuition and Sociability stats, he was able to understand their intentions well enough.


    Runar pushed open the door to his office and the pair stepped inside. The first thing Ryan noticed was the large wooden crate in the centre of the space. The second thing he noticed was the small pixie that immediately rushed toward him, nuzzling against his cheek happily.


    "Well, hello there, Penny," Ryan chuckled quietly, "How''s your day been?"


    Penny the pixie chirped excitedly as she fluttered away from Ryan''s face. She rushed over to her nest standing in the corner of the room and came back out just a moment later. Penny stopped in front of Ryan, shyly holding a strawberry toward him. With a smile, he held out his hand, and Penny dropped the strawberry into his palm as Ryan held forward the candy with his other hand.


    Immediately, the pixie grabbed the piece of candy and pulled it tightly to her body, excitedly staring at Ryan. With a smile, he took a bite of the strawberry.


    "It''s very tasty, thank you," he said, and Penny chirped happily as she fluttered back to her nest.


    "That girl really likes you, huh?" Runar laughed, and Ryan just shrugged.


    "Because I give her some candy every time I''m here."


    "Mhm, I''m sure that''s all," with a smile, Runar approached the wooden crate standing in front of the two. With a swift motion, he pulled open the top, revealing that it was completely filled with books.


    "... Do you want me to read all of those?" Ryan asked with a wry smile, but Runar just scoffed.


    "No, those aren''t all for you. Rather, they''re not all books, anyway. Some are, obviously; documents and records that I needed that I asked for already. Others have a bit more to them than that," Runar started, pulling one of the books out of the large crate.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    The cover had some kind of patterns engraved into it, and Runar quickly tapped certain symbols in a specific order, making them light up. After every part of the pattern was giving off a soft glow, Runar opened the book in the middle, revealing that it was hollowed out. Inside of it was a small, golden whistle.


    Ryan raised a brow, "Uh... so what''s that?"


    "It''s a whistle."


    "Well, I can see that, but why is there a whistle in the book?"


    "It''s a whistle that, when blown, can disturb nearby mana. We''re dealing with a lot of ''corruption'' recently, and this whistle should be able to stop its spread for at least a few moments. Though, it''s also going to stop any sort of spell or mana-based skill from being used, but that''s useful in its own sense, anyway," Runar explained, carefully placing the whistle back inside of the book. Looking through the rest of the books in the crate, Runar pulled out four different ones. The patterns on the covers of these ones were much more complex. It took a whole minute for Runar to open each of them up.


    But one after another, he did, and placed them onto the small coffee table. Each of them held spirit cores; two of them whole, and two of them broken. Of the broken ones, there was one that seemed to make up half a core, shimmering in a golden yellow, while the other one had two fragments that, when counted together, could only account for a little less than half of a deep, royal purple stone.


    Though, out of the whole cores, only one of the two was giving off a soft light, glowing in different shades of blue that flickered like flames. The one in the second book looked, at first glance, to be a piece of steel in the shape of a spirit core, but Ryan could somehow tell that it was still a spirit in there.


    Ryan held his hand forward, pulling Gaia and Maximus out of their domains. The two spirits looked at the cores, clearly reacting to them quite intensely. They knew the spirits these cores belonged to, that much was clear. Though, of course, they probably didn''t remember them at all. But when they looked over at the fragmented cores, they grew solemn, and their excitement quickly faded.


    "Don''t worry," Ryan said, sitting down on the couch right in front of the books as he patted the garden golem''s back, "We''ll find the rest of their fragments in time, just like we did with you, Gaia."


    "One step at a time, alright?" Runar pointed out as he continued to unpack the crate, "For now, just try to speak to the spirits whose cores are whole. I doubt they''ll be as easy to please as Maximus."


    The knight immediately turned his head toward Runar, staring at him intensely. Runar scoffed, "Don''t look at me like that. The only thing that Ryan needed to do to gain your trust was to build you your body. Usually, spirits tend to have a few more conditions."


    "Gaia didn''t have any," Ryan pointed out, and Runar just let out a long sigh.


    "You saved her from a dungeon and a corrupted robot all on your own, I think that should be enough to prove that you''re trustworthy."


    "... Fair enough. Well, alright, let''s get started," Ryan replied, staring at the spirit cores in front of him. He felt almost anxious as he reached out to the first one, the blue core that was letting off that intense glow. His fingertips were dyed in the core''s blue light. The moment he touched the gem''s smooth surface, a message appeared in front of Ryan''s eyes.


    <hr>


    [The Harlequin Spirit Jester is glad to meet you. Until his requirements have been fulfilled, he will stay and watch you closely]


    [A temporary domain has become available]


    [You have received a new Quest!]


    [Jester''s Excitement]


    [Jester, a Spirit of the most curious kind, has been drowning in utter boredom. Find a way to excite him, and he may just join your side]


    [Conditions - Excite Jester]


    [On Success - Jester''s Favour]


    [On Failure - Jester''s Disdain]


    <hr>


    Ryan read the messages one after another, "Uh, so, this is Jester, a Harlequin Spirit. And he wants me to... excite him?"


    "Excuse me?"


    "Yeah, I don''t... I don''t know either," Ryan responded, thinking about it for a few moments, "A Harlequin is something like a clown, right? So maybe he wants me to show him some tricks?"


    "Maybe, but... who knows? There might be some info on him in the notes."


    While Runar looked back at the pile of books that he had pulled out from the crate, Ryan watched as Jester''s core disappeared in his fingertips. The gem fell apart into flame-like mana that flowed up his veins. Ryan quickly understood what ''temporary domain'' was supposed to mean; instead of being a full space that the core was housed in like with Gaia and Maximus'', the core was simply floating in the empty space between the domains, much like Gaia''s seeds and Maximus'' replacement arm did.


    He didn''t need to figure out what Jester meant with ''excitement''; Ryan was sure he would come up with something sooner or later. For now, he needed to at least try to wake up the second core.


    Slowly, Ryan reached out to it, holding the weirdly metallic gemstone in his hand. It even felt heavier than the others, to the point where Ryan turned toward his uncle with some confusion.


    "Are you sure this is the real deal? Is it possible that they swapped the core out with a... pretty obvious fake before sending it to us?" Ryan asked, and Runar glanced over toward him for a moment.


    "Oh gods, I sure hope not," Runar scoffed, turning away from the books before walking over to Ryan to take a quick look at the core, "They already did everything they could to delay the delivery of the cores in the first place, so if they dared to do something like that on top of that... I don''t even know at this point."


    "Huh? Wait, they delayed the delivery?"


    "Of course, do you think it takes this long for us to deliver anything anywhere? After I officially told them about you, the elders kept on trying to make a fuss, since you''re Hayden''s son and all that."


    "... And I doubt that the cores being here means that I''m suddenly on good terms with the elders."


    "You are definitely not, no. Sorry," patting his nephew''s back, Runar turned back around, "Either way, just... for now, try to commune with the core somehow."


    "Easier said than done," with a groan, Ryan ran his fingers over the metallic spirit core. The more he touched it, the weirder it felt. It definitely felt metallic, but it also felt like a gemstone, like all the other cores, at the same time.


    "Come on, I know you''re in there. You don''t need to talk to me, and you don''t need to accept me, but at least wake up," Ryan whispered to the core. He stretched out his consciousness toward it, almost like when he pulled Maximus or Gaia into their domains. Ryan didn''t want to force the spirit into some kind of domain, but he figured that maybe it could act as some kind of trigger.


    The moment Ryan''s mana touched the core, it fell apart into metallic tubes. They burrowed right into Ryan''s fingertips, branching off each other and moving in straight lines and right angles like a complex network of pipes or wires.


    But he definitely hadn''t tried to pull the core into himself; it just happened completely on its own.


    <hr>


    [You are temporarily housing the dormant Artillerist Spirit Gregor]


    [A temporary domain has become available]


    <hr>


    Ryan raised his brows, "Oh. Uh... the core is still dormant, but apparently it''s an ''Artillerist'' Spirit called Gregor."


    Runar turned his head around immediately, "Wait, Gregor?"


    "You know this one?"


    "Yeah, I..." Runar responded, almost shuddering, "He built some turrets around where Hayden and I used to live as a security system, so I''ve seen him a few times... I didn''t expect it to be him."


    "Is there something wrong with him?"


    "No, no, that''s not why I''m surprised... You know how I''m bad with tech?"


    "... Yes?"


    "That includes any sort of machine," he explained, groaning loudly, "And Gregor just so happens to be a type of technology spirit... he''s a robot."


    With a scoff, Ryan looked back down at the core, "Well, I''m sure you''ll get along somehow. If we get him to wake up in the first place. Since you remember him, do you have any tips?"


    Runar thought about it for a few moments, "Just... be close to machines? Maybe go visit Modak, his dad owns some auto-shop. And the amusement park dungeon does have an area that might fit Gregor pretty well..."


    "Sounds like a plan, let''s go there later then," Ryan grinned lightly, before reaching out to the fragments of the two other spirit cores. The moment he touched them, they were pulled into his body through his fingertips like he was using a vacuum to suck them up. For a few moments, he wondered if these spirits would feel ready to join him just because he found their fragments like Gaia did, but it seemed that wasn''t the case.


    <hr>


    [You have found a Fragment of Morgana (1/2)]


    [A temporary domain has become available]


    [You have found two Fragments of Violette (2/5)]


    [A temporary domain has become available]


    <hr>


    Just like with Jester and Gregor, these two spirits were only with him for what was essentially ''safekeeping'' right now. But at least, these fragments acknowledged Ryan''s existence easily enough. Maybe they would still let Ryan become their keeper once he found the rest of their fragments.


    But before he could think about that further or question Runar about who Morgana and Violette could be, even more system messages appeared before Ryan''s eyes.


    <hr>


    [The -Spirit domain- Skill has levelled up]


    [You have levelled up!]

 70 - Area Boss

    [Maximus has levelled up!]


    <hr>


    Ryan glanced at the system message as the body of the mascot in front of him finished falling apart.


    "Oh! Congrats, man, just one level away from getting you to 10," he said with a grin, squatting down as he held his fist toward the small knight. With a satisfied nod, Maximus fist-bumped Ryan.


    He himself had already reached level 8, and Gaia was now already level 6. The speed at which they levelled up was almost ridiculous. It''s been not even a week since they first came into the dungeon, and they''ve made this much progress already.


    Though of course, after Ryan''s first day at a dungeon a few weeks ago where he levelled up three times, this was still painfully slow. The first five levels were by far the fastest, and after that things slowed down considerably.


    But things have been going pretty well overall compared to the ''usual'' speed that people tended to level up, though that was mostly because he could spend all of his time on it. And even when he was doing something else, since Gaia would often do some work in the garden even while Ryan was taking care of unrelated matters, he could still slowly gain experience through that. Not that there were many times that Ryan didn''t help Gaia out.


    The past week had a very specific cycle that Ryan was going through every single day without a proper break. In the mornings, he would go to work out with Yanna. With the help of specialized salves that helped with recovery, a clever workout plan, and obviously Tiar''s influence, he practically recovered overnight. Ryan had already bulked up a little bit since he started, and because Tiar still sucked out all the calories he ate, he looked like some kind of professional athlete or a movie superhero. It was kind of weird, he really wasn''t used to it.


    Starting around noon up until early evening, before the sun even properly started going down, Ryan was inside of the dungeon. He wasn''t accompanied by Runar every single time, though that was because Ryan insisted he should actually keep the caf¨¦ open more regularly. That was why, like today, he was accompanied by Anders, his uncle''s dwarven aide. He wasn''t quite out of sight the same way that Runar was, but he was still an experienced and powerful combatant, so he was able to follow Ryan without jeopardizing the dungeon dive.


    And then, later on, when they left the dungeon, Ryan would go back home and do some work in the garden with Gaia before it got dark out. Though today, Silvia and Modak supposed to come, so Ryan wanted to take a bit of a break. It was getting exhausting doing nothing but this all the time. Just as Ryan thought so, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He quickly picked up the plastic coin that the mascot dropped and turned toward Maximus.


    "Another monster is coming," Ryan warned, squatting down underneath the broken window of the shop they were inside of right now. The Spirit Link skill was on cooldown, so Ryan wasn''t able to use Gaia and her sub-golems to scout out the area and had to rely a bit more on his own senses. Though, with his Intuition stat at 1.7, his instincts did a pretty good job at warning him that something was coming. That stat''s growth was the highest out of all of Ryan''s stats, and he couldn''t really complain about it either. It felt weird at times, but overall, it was like he was more in the moment. Like he could really tell what was going on around him at all times. It grounded him in a way that he couldn''t really describe with words.


    But those same instincts told him something else, and that this mascot was a big deal. It was different to the others ones. He had seen this one around a couple of times and completely avoided it, since it was most likely the area boss.


    In dungeons that were split up into different areas like this, there was usually one monster that was stronger than all the others. It was something like a ''protector'' of the area, and was generally more powerful than other monsters, appearing different as well. When Ryan had seen it for the first time, Runar told him that beating the area boss was the requirement for letting him move on to one of the next areas, though that was just a requirement that Runar set for him pretty arbitrarily.


    Ryan grabbed the shield next to him tightly. Bringing a shield was a pretty obvious decision considering Ryan''s part in the combat. He couldn''t just leave Maximus to fight them all on his own, so after the first day at the dungeon, a choice was made. Ryan, so that he could take a more active part in combat, now carried two things with him, completely customized by Silvia.


    First was the shield. It wasn''t anything special, just a small riot shield that he could strap to his arm when needed. And the second was a reinforced baseball bat. It was actually pretty heavy since it was made of solid steel all the way through instead of wood or hollow aluminium.


    Silvia had painted them both; she was getting pretty good at using her new skills at this point, and was able to use her ''Insight'' skill to glance at certain people while they used their skills, gaining inspiration for art that she could imbue with special effects. That was how she imbued the shield with the defensive power of Maximus'' Knight''s Guard skill, while placing the offensive power of his Knight''s Attack skill onto the bat. This allowed Ryan to place a couple of points worth of MP into either of them to support him, though it didn''t seem to work to the same degree as Maximus'' skills.


    At this point they gave the knight a more than 30% boost to attack or defence respectively, but Silvia''s skill only allowed for three to four percent at best, though that was still better than nothing, of course.


    Ryan waved over Gaia, who carefully approached him. She also had some new equipment, though it was just a new backpack that fit her properly. Silvia had also designed this one, being put in charge of any and all equipment for Ryan and the spirits. She was actually quite upset that the other craftsmen had designed all of Maximus'' weapons, but she liked how they looked so that faded pretty quickly. She was sure she would get a chance to make new ones in the future, anyway. But when she made the backpack for Gaia, for some reason she decided to make it look like some sort of wooden scaffolding had been placed onto the golem. But it seemed to fit Gaia perfectly and she was happy with how it looked, so Ryan didn''t mind either.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    He placed the new coin into the backpack. Runar said he would explain what these are for when Ryan beat the area boss as well. They had quite a few of them already, so he was getting more and more curious, especially since it was the only thing that any of the mascots dropped.


    Ryan carefully peeked over the windowsill, watching the area boss walk past them in the middle of the road. It was a mascot probably twice the size of all the other ones. While the other mascots contained their ''rotten'' parts to their insides, this one was practically falling apart. The fabric that made up its skin was falling apart, and maggots were crawling all over it. The smell of rotting flesh reached all the way here, though Ryan wasn''t even all that close to it right now.


    This guy seemed like he was the most popular mascot of all of them. At least, there was more art of him on the walls, and the souvenir shops sold more of his things than any other mascot. It appeared to be something like a gorilla, with blue fur, holding a large jute bag that it was dragging on the ground behind it. Ryan didn''t know what was in that bag, but it was completely stuffed.


    "You think we can take him?" Ryan looked at Maximus, who glanced over the windowsill to take a closer look as well. He carefully turned over to Ryan, nodding his head.


    "Alright, then let''s do it," sighing slightly, Ryan got ready to attack the area boss. The only good part about this guy was that he seemed to scare even the other mascots, so they didn''t have to worry about being surrounded by other mascots, at least not until the battle was over. Ryan glanced at the back of his hand, "Tiar, you get ready as well, I might use the Spirit Armament skill if I need to."


    Tiar''s patterns quickly changed, as the symbiote replied with a quick salute, " o7 "


    With a smile, ready to attack the area boss, Ryan carefully moved out of the shop he was in right now. The massive gorilla mascot was slowly dragging its feet through the road, kicking up dirt and crushing trash in its way.


    All the mascots so far acted completely the same, so Ryan doubted that this one would be any different, but he should still be careful. It was the only one with a bag like that too, so it was possible that it had some kind of new pattern to it. Plus, considering its size, it might be a bit harder to get through some of the attacks.


    Ryan glanced at Maximus, who was currently asking for the largest weapon that had been prepared for him. It was so large that carrying it around normally was quite unhandy, as it was a whole 30cm long, almost 10 more than Maximus himself; and that was just the blade itself, not even the handle. It was basically a dagger that Ryan could also use in an emergency as well, though the handle was a little thin.


    But for a guy this large, it was necessary to use a large weapon, since anything else could only cause shallow wounds. The downsides of Maximus'' size were becoming more than apparent. Ryan took a deep breath. It was time to bait the area boss.


    Gaia was safely staying inside the shop for now, and Maximus was waiting behind some trash until the area boss was properly distracted. Ryan glanced at the knight to make sure they were on the same page, before stepping into the middle of the road. The shield was strapped tight onto his left arm while the heavy bat pressed down onto his palm.


    "Yo, you big monkey!" Ryan exclaimed, getting the area boss'' attention. The massive gorilla turned its head around toward him. One of its eyes was missing, revealing a maggot-filled socket. It slightly tilted its head for a few moments, as if curious about Ryan. But that curiosity only lasted for a few moments, since the mascot immediately rushed over toward him. It moved with that sort of clunky, newborn-deer type of control that all the other mascots seemed to have over their bodies. Or maybe it was even rougher, since its body was clearly decomposed much more than the other mascots. But even so, due to its size it still moved incredibly fast and came at Ryan like a truck.


    Just in case, he poured mana into his shield and bat, waiting for the right moment. He held the shield in front of his body to defend against the area boss'' massive reach, jumping to the side at the last moment. The mascot couldn''t stop or swerve, though it did swing its arm at Ryan. But before the mascot could hit him, he hit the mascot''s knee with his strengthened steel bat.


    Ryan felt the massive resistance, but with all the forces working together, he could tell that the attack worked. Though, before he could process how much damage was actually done, Ryan watched as that massive jute bag was swung toward him. He had managed to dodge well enough out of the way so that he couldn''t be hit by the mascot''s hand, but with the extra range of the bag, he was still hit.


    He tightly held onto the shield and braced himself, but was still thrown across the road. His arm felt numb; rather, both of his arms did. Both attacking the mascot and defending against its own attack was pretty intense. But it wasn''t anything he couldn''t handle. Ryan scraped over the road, but his armour protected him from actually getting too hurt because of this. He might get some bruises later, but that was fine.


    Especially because now, the area boss'' limp became rather extreme. Its defence was quite high, but its body was broken down to the point that any damage was a lot of damage. The mascot was slowed-down and focused completely on Ryan, which gave Maximus the perfect opportunity to attack. He stabbed his sword into the back of the mascot''s leg, tearing through it horizontally. The sword enhanced with aura cut through the mascot''s tough bones with ease, and its leg was now only attached through a few lumps of rotting meat.


    The mascot lashed out, trying to swing the bag at Maximus, but by then Ryan had already run back toward them, blocking the attack by holding the shield above them. The impact coursed through his body and Ryan buckled under the weight, dropping onto one knee. He groaned loudly, "Maximus!"


    The knight knew what to do; he threw his large sword up over the shield, and then stepped into his domain, travelling up onto the shield almost instantly to catch the weapon there. The mascot''s bag was still in reach, so, in order to get rid of the area boss'' main weapon, Maximus slashed at it.


    The mascot pulled the torn bag away, and a flood of those hard plastic coins flowed out of it. There was something else mixed in with those coins, but it seemed to be some kind of figurine so Ryan ignored it for now.


    Once he recovered enough, Ryan slightly pulled down the shield and then pushed it forward rapidly to throw the knight at the area boss. Maximus stabbed the sword into the mascot''s shoulder, and the aura seemed to be making sure that his body weight was enough to let him tear through the boss'' arm, from shoulder to hand.


    The mascot''s right arm and leg were now loosely hanging onto the its body, but it wasn''t done yet. Clearly, it didn''t quite care about the integrity of its own body; just like the other mascots. One of them had impaled itself because it didn''t care about keeping itself safe. And this one didn''t hesitate to use its own arm as a whip, swinging it at Ryan, the target that it was confident it could hit. Once more, Ryan could do nothing but block the attack, for the third time. This time, though, his arm didn''t just go numb; he felt something crack.

 71 - Area Boss (2)

    The crack coursed through Ryan''s whole body. He slightly pulled on his sleeve, quickly seeing dark purple bruises form. Tiar''s patterns were anxiously moving around, as if trying to figure out a way to fix Ryan''s arm, but he quickly looked at the symbiote''s patterns with a smile to calm them down.


    "Don''t worry, it''s fine, it doesn''t hurt that much," he explained, slowly taking the shield off his arm. He couldn''t risk blocking with this again, so he just threw it to the side for now. Since he could only use one of his arms now, he figured going for the steel bat was the better option. Worst-case, he could block with it to some degree as well. Plus, with just the bat, he could concentrate on dodging a bit better, which was definitely necessary right now.


    The mascot was swinging its arm around like some kind of whip; Ryan could hear its muscles and skin tearing every so slightly the more that it did so. Dark, almost brownish blood was flung around together with chunks of flesh and the maggots that had burrowed into them. At least this would all disappear when the area boss was dead, so it wasn''t that big a deal for now.


    During the boss'' rampage where it just wildly swung its arm, it was otherwise fairly stationary, probably because its leg was only hanging on by a thread as well. A thread that Maximus was aiming to cut just then.


    The knight ran across the ground, dodging out of the way skilfully every time the mascot was trying to swing its arm at him, soon reaching its legs. Turning his body and almost dragging the sword the he was carrying behind him, Maximus cut through the mascot''s leg, or the parts that were still attached. Immediately, the monster''s body slumped down, sliding off the chunk of flesh that used to be its foot.


    The arm that it was swinging around wasn''t particularly helping with its stability either, so Ryan knew that it was a good chance to counterattack and make it fall completely. He glanced at the arm, waiting for the right moment, and then swung the metal bat right at the knee of the mascot''s ''healthy'' leg, though even that one was maggot-infested to the point where Ryan was shocked that it could still stand on that.


    At the very least, it seemed like that attack did something, and the mascot almost toppled over. It tried to reach out to Ryan as it fell, but he quickly stepped backward out of reach. Though, of course, there was still its other arm that it was swinging around haphazardly, and it was headed straight for Ryan''s head. Without even seeing it, Ryan instinctively squatted down, feeling the arm swoosh by above his head. He was covered in splatters of rotting blood, but that was better than having his skull smashed in.


    The mascot now completely lost its balance, and it fell down toward its right side. Since it could no longer use its right arm to halt its fall, it dropped right onto its shoulder, crushing its already injured arm under its weight. As it tried to stand back up, what used to be its limb was torn off from the last bits that it was holding onto, now laying limp on the ground.


    Ignoring the gushes of blood and gore, Maximus threw the dagger-sized sword at the mascot''s chest, lodging it solidly above its heart. But somehow, it didn''t seem to have gone deep enough. Ryan saw the mascot try to reach out to Maximus who was trying his best to keep it distracted for a few moments by attempting to climb onto its body, and Ryan quickly moved around its right side that was now left completely defenceless.


    With a swift motion, Ryan swung the steel bat at the dagger lodged in the mascot''s chest. Like a hammer smashing in a nail, he forced the dagger deeper inside, feeling its rib bones break, stabbing the sword straight into its heart. Though... it didn''t react. The other mascots still died when their hearts were crushed or stabbed, but the area boss seemed to be too far gone into the direction of some rotting undead for that to work anymore.


    Though, it seemed to have a little bit of an effect, at least. The mascot was getting really mad. Incredibly, incredibly mad, so Ryan had to build a little bit of distance between himself and the mascot.


    "Maximus, we need to crush its brain," Ryan pointed out to the knight, who once more quickly joined his keeper''s side. Without warning, Maximus stepped through the domain to safely position himself on the metal bat, and Ryan quickly stretched the bat out closer toward the mascot''s chest. Maximus jumped onto it to try and pull the sword out, and Ryan immediately swung the bat at the mascot''s remaining arm to distract and stop it from grabbing onto the knight as he was doing so.


    It seemed to be working well enough, and it looked like Ryan at least broke a finger or two with that swing, but he still quickly jumped back to dodge out of the way as the mascot tried to strike at him.


    Maximus managed to pull out the sword, and now used that deep wound as a foothold to jump up higher. He swung the sword right at the mascot''s face, trying to cut through its eye first and foremost, but the mascot''s mouth opened up immediately. Maximus ended up cutting through the sides of the boss'' mouth and deep into its tongue, filling the mouth with a thick puddle of blood almost immediately.


    The mascot tried to bite down on Maximus, but before it could, the spirit twisted the sword upside down. Its tip pointed upward, digging into the roof of the mascot''s mouth, while the hilt pushed down into the puddle of blood. Ryan watched as the mascot''s jaw slammed shut around Maximus. But he also watched as the mascot fell down backward, like a tree that was just cut down.


    Ryan immediately dropped his bat and rushed over to the mascot, pushing its mouth open. Since it was already dead and falling apart, it was pretty easy to do. Maximus climbed out of the mascot''s mouth, covered in blood and maggots. Parts of his armour were scratched and the cloth covering his lower body was torn, as were his gloves.


    "I''ll get you fixed up later, alright?" Ryan said as he carefully picked the knight up, who just nodded his head.


    <hr>


    [You have killed the Level 10 -Mascot Boss-]


    [Jester''s excitement has risen slightly]


    <hr>


    Ryan sighed as he saw the message. Every once in a while, messages like these would pop up, as Jester the Harlequin''s ''excitement'' rose in response to things Ryan and Maximus did here in the dungeon. Whether it was an ambush, or defeating an annoying or particularly tough mascot, or anything of the sort. The last time Ryan got one of these was when a dragon mascot nearly scorched Ryan''s hair off.


    Though, at least Jester''s quest seemed to be proceeding; Gregor still wasn''t waking up or responding no matter what they were doing. But for now, he had to concentrate on something else anyway. Since the area boss was dead, there was nothing stopping other mascots from swarming them anymore.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "Gaia, come over here!" Ryan exclaimed, "And Anders, we could use some help!"


    Immediately as Ryan said so, the dwarf''s footsteps could be heard, "Aye, good job on that. What''d ya need help with?" he asked, almost yawning, and Ryan quickly explained.


    "My arm''s broken, so we should probably head out and meet Kula."


    Anders glanced down at Ryan''s left arm that he was carefully holding against his body, "Ya fought like that with yer arm broken?"


    "It broke toward the end of it all," Ryan pointed out, groaning lightly as he looked at his arm, "Would you mind helping me out with my stuff?"


    With an immediate nod, Anders walked over to Ryan''s shield and bat, "Of course, that''s what I''m here for. Need help picking up that loot?"


    "I think the sub-golems are going to take care of that," Ryan pointed out, already looking over to Gaia whose two sub-golems quickly fell from her torso. They quickly ran over toward the large pile of plastic coins that had fallen out from the area boss'' bag. It seemed like it would take a little while until the boss fully fell apart, so Ryan used that time to take a closer look at the bag''s former contents. There was something else mixed in there as well.


    Buried by those coins stood a small plastic statue painted in golden paint, displaying the mascot that they had just killed; a gorilla. However, as Ryan looked over toward the mascot, he could see the hints of another one of these statues being left behind.


    "Uh... So why is it carrying around all these coins?" Ryan asked, looking over at Anders. The dwarf finished a long yawn and scratched the back of his head.


    "That''s its loot. Looks like ya got pretty lucky; this one killed another area boss."


    "Huh? Wait, so, the boss goes around killing other mascots and then takes their drops? But why would it do that?"


    "I don''t know. It''s just kind of aggressive that way," Anders replied, shrugging.


    "That''s not what I mean, like... why would the dungeon make a monster that goes around killing other monsters? I may not know a ton about dungeons, but I at least know that they don''t tend to be self-destructive like that, so there has to be some kind of benefit to the area boss doing this," Ryan pointed out, and the dwarf was silent for a few moments.


    "I got no clue, kid. I''ve only been here a couple of times. Ask yer uncle, he should know somethin'' more."


    "... I guess I''ll do that," Ryan muttered as he picked up the small statue. He still didn''t know what these were for, but he was definitely curious now. Though, for now, it was time for them to make their way out of the dungeon to where Kula was waiting.


    They picked up the other statue that the freshly-killed area boss dropped as well as the dagger that had still been stuck in its head, and then made their way back to the entrance. Anders took out a few mascots on the way as if they were annoying bugs. He didn''t really have to do much to take each of them out, but it was enough for Ryan to figure out his class.


    Anders was a Brawler, or an adjacent class. It was the exact type that Ryan thought he would awaken with, rather than the Spirit Keeper class. It was interesting to see in person, since the Brawler class was all about rough, improvised combat, so Anders was really just kicking or throwing whatever trash he could find at the mascot''s heads, crushing them completely. Of course, Ryan took the liberty to collect the coins that those mascots dropped.


    Before long, they reached the outside of the old amusement park and approached Kula, the fully cloaked healer. He himself refused to enter the dungeon, seemingly for some kind of religious reason. Ryan remembered that there were some denominations of specific gods'' followers that believed dungeons to be ''unholy'', refusing to be even close to them. Luckily, Kula was fine with at least coming close to dungeons, but he refused to step foot inside even just momentarily.


    "Ka-har," Kula sighed loudly as Ryan took off his reinforced jacket. He quickly grabbed that large golden ring and approached him. Kula leaned in closer, seemingly taking a look at Ryan''s injury.


    "Are you checking exactly how my bone broke? I heard that White Mages basically need to reconstruct a body to heal it, rather than just boosting natural recovery like other healing classes," Ryan pointed out curiously, but Kula seemed to ignore him for a few moments.


    "Zhi-la mak gurag."


    "Ah, alright, that''s good. I''m glad that it''s a clean break. It doesn''t really hurt that much, either," Ryan replied with a relieved sigh, and Anders stared at him with a raised brow.


    "Ya understood him?"


    Ryan turned to the dwarf with a raised brow, "Huh? Oh, not fully I guess. I don''t speak Jistian or anything, but I''ve been understanding the vibe of what Kula''s saying. Like a combination of my type of ''Intuition'' and ''Sociability'', probably."


    Kula looked at Ryan for a few moments before continuing to heal him. It was a somewhat weird feeling for Ryan. He could feel his bones shifting and moving into place, as his muscles and fat wrapped around them. The painful heat that was coursing through his arm until now was fading away as the swelling went down as well. In just a few minutes, Ryan''s arm was perfectly healed.


    "Just don''t use it too much for the rest of the day," Kula said, speaking in perfect, accent-free Riverian. His cadence was a bit unusual, but it was still perfectly fluent.


    "... You speak Riverian?"


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Modak walked into the caf¨¦ with an exhausted groan, putting his bag down onto the table that Silvia was sitting at. She was painting something on a piece of paper, though it seemed like just some kind of jumbled mess right now.


    "Tough day at work?" Silvia asked, and Modak slowly nodded his head.


    "Yeah, we''ve been trying to solve some vocal amplification issues all day... producing mana-infused sound through technology is way harder than I thought it would be," Modak groaned, and Silvia smiled.


    "Yeah, but won''t it be even cooler once you finally get it to work, then?"


    The orc smiled lightly, "I guess so. Ryan''s not back yet?"


    "Nah, but he''s on his way apparently," Silvia responded, as Runar came walking up to the table.


    "He''s working hard at reaching level 10, but it shouldn''t take more than one more week. By the time Spirit Week comes around, his schedule should be freed up again," Runar explained, "Want something to drink?"


    Modak thought about it for a moment, "Just a black coffee, maybe."


    "Comin'' right up," Runar replied, quickly making his way over behind the counter to pour Modak a coffee, as the orc looked back at Silvia.


    "So, what are you making?"


    The young elf grinned lightly, "Just playing around with something," she replied, finally looking up from the piece of paper, revealing a light glow in her eyes. Curious to see what she was making, Modak waited for a few moments, until Silvia seemed to have finished the colourful, jumbled drawing.


    And then, she started to fold up the paper, and Modak quickly realized what it was. It was a paper airplane, and now, the jumbled parts finally made sense; once folded, they came together into a bird''s wings.


    With a smile, Silvia threw the paper plane into the air, and it was carried around the top of the busy space. The other customers looked up in surprise, watching it fly around without sinking at all and without a destination in mind. Though, at some point, it did run out of mana, and the effect of the magic Silvia placed on it ran out.


    Just then, the caf¨¦''s door opened up, and Ryan stepped inside. The plane hit him straight on the forehead, crumpling the plane''s tip. He caught the piece as it fell down, noticing that everyone was now staring at him.


    "... Well, that''s a greeting, I guess."

 72 - Hidden in Plain Sight

    Ryan leaned down and grabbed the paper plane, bringing it with him over to his friends'' table. Luckily, all the people in the caf¨¦ already moved back on to their own regular conversations, though of course they were very curious to see someone in such unique-looking armour, a baseball bat, and a shield. That''s why most of them still glanced over toward him every once in a while.


    Ryan put his stuff down at the table and set down with a long groan, making Silvia laugh a bit, "You guys both made the same sound when you sat down."


    With a raised brow, Ryan looked at Modak, "Long day at work?"


    "Mhm. Long day in the... you know...?" the orc responded, and Ryan quickly nodded. At that point, Runar came over with two cups in his hand; one was Modak''s black coffee, and the other was an iced latte, Ryan''s usual order.


    "Oh, thanks," Ryan replied, "Can you get me something to eat as well? I stashed some stuff for me in the break room."


    "Coming right up," Runar replied, quickly turning around to head into the break room behind the counter.


    "So..." Silvia curiously looked at Ryan, "What level are you?"


    Ryan grinned lightly as he leaned back in his seat, "Level 8. Maximus is level 9, and Gaia is level 6. We''re making pretty good progress already. It looks like Jester''s coming along to warming up to me as well, but there''s nothing from the others at all."


    "Oh, wow, that''s pretty fast, right? And honestly, I don''t know how you even managed to get to level 4 in a single day, I''ve been using my skills so much and I''m only level 4 since yesterday..." Silvia pointed out, and Ryan looked at the paper plane contemplatively.


    "I mean... have you been making just things like this? Like, I know you made my armour, shield, and bat, but even that felt like you were just kind... playing around?"


    Confused by what Ryan meant, Silvia slightly tilted her head, "What do you mean?"


    Modak nodded in agreement, "I think so as well, like... I think the reason why Ryan levelled up so much on his first day in a dungeon was because the situation was so serious."


    "Exactly," Ryan replied, looking inwardly at Maximus'' domain, where the knight was currently using the wooden weaponry provided by his domain to train. After the Spirit Domain skill levelled up a bit, more of Maximus'' ''hut'' was revealed, and tons of different training weapons attached to the outer wall were slowly coming into view, "Basically, it''s like... the function behind how levelling works isn''t 100% understood, but there are a few parts we do know. So, let''s say Maximus trains for 5 hours. The actual progress he''s going to make level-wise could be... 5%. But if he were to use those 5 hours for actual combat, he could make 50% progress."


    Silvia frowned lightly, "So what, there''s no use in practicing, or sketching, or playing around with it? I always have to work on serious projects to make any progress at all?"


    "Actually, no, not at all. So, the more you practice, the more of an experience-boost you get when you actually do do the real thing. With the same example, if Maximus trains for five hours, and then is in actual combat for 5 hours, he could make more than a full level''s worth of progress, and that''s not even mentioning the non-system related progress you make," Ryan explained, "At the end of the day, as long as you just add in some proper ''projects'' into your workflow, you can just kinda do what you think is fun."


    With a relieved expression, Silvia nodded her head, "Alright, in that case, I''ll try and work on something. Maybe a painting... it''s been a while since I sat down in front of a canvas, anyway. Hm, I might need to get some new oil paints, though..."


    "I can help with that," Runar pointed out, giving the small bag filled with snacks to Ryan before placing a small metal pyramid on the table. It let off a slight glow for just a moment, and Ryan could feel magic flow through him momentarily, "We can talk freely here with that, it creates something like a small barrier that obscures someone''s perception of what''s contained in it. So nobody will hear or even notice you guys."


    "Oh! That''s so cool, how does it work? I think I''ve seen some of these around at the magic tower," Modak curiously leaned forward, and Runar quietly yawned.


    "Yeah, the magic tower uses those a lot when they talk about projects that they don''t want other mages to hear about. We use them when we''ve got certain types of matters to deal with too, like when we need to move people through the city inconspicuously," Runar explained, and Silvia quickly looked away from the metal pyramid and back up at him.


    "So, what do you mean with ''I can help with that''?"


    "Right, sorry. Basically, my class depends on writing runes, and a lot of the time I do that using special inks with pigments from magical sources that increase the efficiency of what I paint. I was working on something last night and realized that it might help you too, though you might have to make your paint yourself. I only have the pigments themselves downstairs."


    Silvia immediately beamed in excitement, "Wait, seriously? That''s actually really cool! I''ve never made my own paint before!"


    "Alright, then I''ll show you my pigment storage later," Runar responded with a nod, before quickly turning to his nephew, "Anyway, how did things go today at the dungeon?"


    With a grin on his face, Ryan pushed his hand into the completely stuffed backpack, pulling out the plastic gorilla statue, "Pretty well, I''d say."


    "Oh!" Runar let out, "You already got him?"


    "Yup, and he even had a second one of those statues in that bag of his, together with a ton of coins," Ryan replied, "So will you finally tell me what the hell I''m supposed to do with those?"


    With a grin on his face, Runar placed his hands onto the backrest of one of the leftover chairs standing at the table, "Well, what do you think it''s for? It''s money. Fake money, sure, but there''s still only one thing you can really do with it, isn''t there?"


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Ryan looked at his uncle with a slight frown, pulling out the massive map of the dungeon. He quickly unfolded it and took a glance around it. Looking at the map''s legend, there was just one thing marked on the map, there was just one thing that seemed like the right answer to that question. A gift shop. One that was separate from the ones in the plaza area that Ryan had been going to the past few days.


    "So what, can I exchange the coins here?" Ryan asked, pointing at the map, and Runar quickly nodded.


    "Yup. It was kind of part of the park''s theme before it was closed down. People that would go there could solve a bunch of ''quests''. For example, each of the mascots could give you a different small task, like finding a specific object in the park or something, and then they would give you one of those coins. If you got all the coins and proved it to that gorilla, he''d give you a statue, which counts as a ''special'' currency. Other types of ''quests'' are things like getting through the haunted house, going on all the rides, playing games at some of the different stands. That kind of thing," Runar explained, "And that was translated to the dungeon now. By killing the monsters or solving the dungeon''s puzzles, you can get coins like that and then exchange them for other rewards later on."


    "Ehh... that actually sounds pretty fun, I wonder why that place went under..." Silvia let out curiously.


    "Who knows, it could have been anything, really. Even we don''t really know what happened there," Runar responded, seemingly not really caring all too much. But Ryan had a bad feeling about it. The fact that the area boss went around killing the other mascots still didn''t sit quite right with him.


    "So, are we going there tomorrow?"


    "Yup, just making a stop to see what they''re offering at the moment. It kind of changes every once in a while, but they let you ''store'' your coins so it''s better to stop by and store the ''points'' every once in a while," Runar responded, glancing over to the door that had been pulled open. Someone was stepping inside; Chantora, the awakened chef from the noodle shop in the Channel.


    Immediately, Runar walked out of the magic item''s barrier and toward Chantora, smiling with an expression that Ryan didn''t see on him often. The two were speaking for a little while, before Runar guided Chantora over to a table near the counter.


    "Oh?" Ryan let out with a raised brow, looking at his uncle''s expression.


    "Who''s that?" Silvia asked curiously, and Ryan quickly explained.


    "He''s the owner of that noodle shop I told you guys about. During the giant''s rampage in the Channel, his shop was destroyed, but he wanted to move his restaurant somewhere else anyway. Runar''s been helping him find a place in the area to set up shop."


    "Don''t get me wrong, but I didn''t know Runar had any... friends," Modak said awkwardly, "I know that he gets along well with the people downstairs and all, but those feel less like friends, and more like... coworkers."


    "Yeah, but I feel like there might be a bit more than just friendship going on there," Ryan grinned lightly, "Too bad my uncle''s already busy as hell, otherwise they might get somewhere."


    "Though, if that chef opens a restaurant nearby then they could get to meet a lot, right?"


    "Well, maybe so, but I live with him and I barely see him around so I wouldn''t count on it," Ryan replied, pulling out his phone with a slight yawn, "I''ll have to see if I can help him out a bit to free up his schedule or something."


    Just then, a message came through; a notification he''s been waiting for, "Oh, fuck yeah."


    "What happened?" Modak asked curiously, and Ryan quickly replied.


    "I bought some model kits, and they''re arriving in a bit. They''re the ones you told me about, Modak."


    "Those car models? They''re pretty cool, and super complex too. It''s like you''re putting together a real car, plus they''re made of metal. I used to play with them a lot," Modak nostalgically explained, and Ryan nodded with a smile.


    "It''s those ones, yeah. They''re pretty expensive though. If you use a mana battery, they actually work. But they had other things beside those cars, like, trains, planes, some tanks, and even a turret that shoots small plastic pellets. I bought a couple of each," Ryan explained, already sighing as he thought about how much work that was going to be, "Those aren''t usually my style, but Gregor is an Artillerist, plus he''s apparently a robot or something. And after looking into the Artillerist class, I figured this might be a good way to get his attention and wake him up."


    "Ooh, do let us know if it works," Silvia replied curiously.


    "Will do," Ryan replied, getting up from his seat, "But for now, I''ll go upstairs and take a shower. Plus, Maximus wanted to read the newest chapter of one of his stories, and Gaia wants to check up on her plants, so I''ll drop them off upstairs. I''ll be back after."


    Ryan got up from his seat and grabbed his backpack, heading out to the back of the caf¨¦. He greeted Chantora on his way, and then climbed the stairs up to the flat. Ryan dropped by his room and turned on his computer while undressing, placing his armour onto some hangers. He cleared out his backpack, putting all the coins and the two plastic statues into a large laundry basket with all of the other ones that he got so far. It was overflowing at this point, thanks to the area boss'' coins.


    When his computer booted up properly, Ryan pulled Maximus out of his domain and quickly navigated to the website that the knight usually read on. After, he grabbed some clothes and walked to the balcony door, opening it up so that he could summon Gaia outside. He was just wearing underwear, so he wasn''t going to go out.


    "Let me know if anything''s wrong or you need my help," Ryan said, and Gaia quickly nodded her head as she got ready to work.


    Ryan''s shower didn''t take all that long; he had already showered after his workout this morning anyway, so he was really just getting rid of any dirt or grime that got stuck to him. The amusement park wasn''t particularly clean, after all.


    After he got out, Ryan got dressed and quickly checked on himself in the mirror. He''s been getting regular treatment from Kula recently, and though at first, the white mage had hoped that Ryan''s scars could be healed, they ended up not fading even slightly. They were too old for him to do anything against that, though Ryan was fine with that for now. Of course, he still felt self-conscious about them, but he was working on it. The scars didn''t make him any lesser.


    "I should awaken the strength stat soon, right? I like this level of bulk, I don''t want to be some kind of bodybuilder or something," Ryan pointed out. Though, looking at Runar, who actually seemed pretty lanky at first glance, he figured he would be fine, "Either way, I feel like I''m looking pretty good. But you''re still sucking up all the calories I eat, so I''m not gaining any weight at all..."


    Glancing at the back of his palm, Tiar just replied with a simple smile, " :) "


    "Yeah, yeah, just stop looking at me like that," Ryan scoffed, "I''m not saying it''s a bad thing, but now that I stopped feeling so hot all the time, not having any fat on me makes me freeze all the time instead."


    "(????)"


    "... Where the hell did you pick that up all of a sudden?"


    "¡¥\_(?_?)_/¡¥"


    "Yeah, yeah, sure you don''t know. Whatever," Ryan quickly put on his clothes and stepped back out of the bathroom, making his way to the kitchen where he grabbed himself another snack. Looking at his phone, it seemed like the delivery of the new models was just a few stops away, so Ryan figured he would just wait for it up here. And as he stood in the kitchen, Leon''s head peeked inside.


    "Ryan?"


    "Sup?" he replied, and Leon walked into the room with a notebook behind his back.


    "Could you help me with some homework? I don''t really understand some of this," Leon asked, and Ryan didn''t even hesitate to nod his head.


    "Of course, come here," he replied, pulling up a chair at the kitchen table, "Let me take a look."

 73 - The Gift Shop

    Different paints filled the small plastic containers across the wall. Silvia had brought all of them after Runar showed her how to make them. She didn''t know if these were everything that she would need, but she picked out a few colours that seemed useful to her. Some basic colours and things that she always needed, as well as some that simply ''spoke'' to her artistic instincts. Runar told her to come back and pick out whatever she wanted if she needed any other paints. He had a truly massive selection of pigments stored away, and even all the tools that were needed to turn it into either ink or paint.


    Truthfully, just seeing that room with all those colourful powders glistening in their glass jars made her excited to paint again, though she hadn''t stood in front of a canvas for quite a while. And even that canvas was more special than anything Silvia had used before, since it was made from some kind of magical fibre harvested from a type of special cotton.


    Runar had fully decked her out with anything that she needed to make this a special painting. Even her brushes and painting knives were magic tools that were specially created for her. It honestly put quite a bit of pressure on her, since Runar was clearly expecting a lot from her. The support was nice, and she certainly appreciated it, but it definitely didn''t make actually starting the painting any easier.


    She looked at the paints and thought about what to do with them. Silvia didn''t want to ruin this opportunity, glancing over toward her window. The sun had barely risen, and she could spend all day locked up in here if she needed to. She has some snacks, plenty of water and juice, and whatever else she could ever need. Taking a deep breath, Silvia walked over to her desk, grabbing the cable connecting to her speakers, which she quickly pushed into the cassette player that Modak had made for her.


    Walking over to her shelf, Silvia looked at the cassettes that she had here. She had basically turned a couple of her playlists and some favourite albums into different cassettes. Something about picking them out like this felt a bit more meaningful and ritualistic to her, rather than just picking something out on her phone. After choosing a playlist that felt right to her, a simple, energetic jazz instrumental playlist that she could have running in the background as she brainstormed, Silvia pushed the cassette into the player.


    Soon, music filled the air, and she began to think, grabbing her sketchbook. She sat on a stool in front of the canvas, keeping her brushes and the different paints in her sight at almost all times. Silvia glanced over toward the window a few times, seeing the sky stretch out above the buildings on the other side of the road, as sunlight poured through the cracks between the more distant skyscrapers.


    She jotted down a few things into her sketchbook, more and more going into a direction that excited her. It was already past noon by the time she decided on something, placing down her sketchbook. Silvia picked out a new cassette that would fit the vibe of the painting more, something fun and free and exciting, and swapped out the tape currently in the player. As the playlist started up, Silvia picked out the paints that she would need, placing them on a small cart that she pulled up beside the canvas together with all the tools that she would need.


    And then, she quickly got started, first painting the background. A deep, bright morning sky framed by dense white clouds. In the distance, far below the clouds, the skyscrapers of a city stretched out upward, while in the centre of the piece the actual subject of the painting was shown. The Forge elemental that lived its life deep below Caf¨¦ Runic, soaring through the sky. Whether or not it was even actually able to fly in the first place didn''t even really matter all too much. But the subject being a stone dragon flying through the sky felt sort of meaningful to Silvia somehow.


    She continued to paint all day, until the light coming in through the window wasn''t enough for her to see anymore. Taking this as a sign, Silvia placed her brushes down and stretched lightly, looking at the unfinished painting. She would have to keep working on this for a few days, but she had already made some good progress. Silvia walked over to the cassette player and turned it off, right when someone knocked on her door.


    "Come in!" Silvia said, and the door opened up to show Modak.


    "How''s it going? Yanna said you were painting, so I figured I''d come take a look," the orc explained, curiously peeking at the canvas.


    "What do you think?"


    "It looks great already. And you did this whole thing with your skill?"


    "Yup," Silvia replied, an excited grin on her face as she looked at the painting, "I did have to take a few breaks here and there to let my mana recover a bit, but still, I was able to make great progress. I even finally levelled up to level 5!"


    "When do you think you''ll be able to finish?" Modak wondered, and Silvia thought about it for a moment.


    "In a couple days, probably. I''ve got a pretty good vision of where I want this to go, and I''ve got the time to just work on this and nothing else, so... not too long, really," Silvia explained, looking over at Modak, "What about you? I doubt you came all the way to my place just to see how my painting was doing."


    Modak''s cheek turned dark green as he slightly looked away, "Yeah, well, Yanna and I are watching a movie together in a bit. She said she''d go prep some snacks, so I figured I''d come take a look at how you''re doing."


    "Aww, cute, what are you watching?"


    "It''s this old animated movie that Yanna said she really likes, but I don''t remember the name right now," Modak explained, slowly walking over to the window. He leaned forward and glanced down at the sidewalk, his sight lingering on something down there.


    A bit confused, Silvia looked at him while she was cleaning up, "Are you okay? Is something happening down there?"


    Modak hesitated, but he still replied in the end, "I... when I got here earlier, there was this elven woman standing outside in front of your place, and she''s still there... Is that... you know..?"


    Her smile slowly fading, Silvia nodded, "Yeah, that''s probably my birth mother... She''s been coming by a lot. My parents wanted to call the police on her, but I... I don''t want her to go to prison again. Is that weird?"


    Modak immediately shook his head, "It''s never ''weird'' to not want someone to go to prison. But at the same time, if she keeps coming despite being told to leave, you might have to call the police on her at some point. Or at least someone else that could get her to leave you alone."


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "... I just don''t know what to do at this point. Should I go talk to her?"


    "Only if that''s something you want to do. Frankly, I don''t think you owe her anything. While I don''t know what exactly happened, if meeting her just once made you shut yourself in your room like that for a full week... I can''t imagine that it''s the kind of thing that''s easy to forget."


    Silvia looked over at the window, not sure what to respond, "I... I guess I just have to keep thinking about it, huh?"


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan and his uncle were walking through the amusement park. Because Runar knew this place pretty well already, he managed to navigate through the dungeon in a way where they didn''t even encounter any monsters despite him only glancing at the map once when they came in.


    "So each of these areas has totally different monsters?" Ryan asked, looking around, and Runar quickly nodded.


    "Yup. Though I guess some of them don''t have monsters you''re supposed to fight, they''re more like employees or set decoration, that kind of thing," Runar explained, and Ryan was pretty surprised.


    "Seriously? Not all dungeon monsters are hostile?"


    "Very rarely they''re not hostile, but instead have some kind of other function. So, I''m just telling you this because that part of the park won''t help you or Maximus level up anyway. But one area of the dungeon is basically a massive funhouse. But because it has a lot of moving parts and stuff, the dungeon basically thought that it''s alive, and turned it into a monster. But you get the reward from that area from just making it through the funhouse instead of killing it, so yeah. By the way, the roller coasters'' carts are also alive," Runar explained, and Ryan stopped for a moment as he looked down at the map. The funhouse area was completely massive, and this whole thing was a single monster?


    "Man, what kind of dungeon even is this? Also, what happens if we did kill the funhouse monster?"


    "Uh..." Runar thought about it for a moment, "I don''t really know, I haven''t actually tried. If you feel like it, you can take a look and see then, but not yet. We basically use that area to help people get used to, and train, their heightened Physicality stat. So once you''ve unlocked that, maybe we can think about it. It''s still pretty dangerous if you don''t even have any physical stats."


    "Well, I have dexterity."


    "Which actually will help for part of the funhouse, but it''s only a small area. Anyway, we can talk about that later. We''re here," Runar said, stopping in front of an old building standing in the middle of a relatively open area. Ryan didn''t understand what was so special about this place that it was given its own section in the dungeon, but he figured he might get it once they were inside.


    Runar pushed open the doors and Ryan swiftly followed him. It was mostly empty, and the parts that were here were completely broken down.


    "Are we in the right place?"


    "Yup. Just come on," Runar waved his nephew over an area next to the large counter on the other side of the room. It was an old wooden treasure chest, basically the perfect example of what you would think of when someone said ''treasure chest''. Runar quickly opened it up, "Alright, drop all the coins, plus the statue, in here."


    Curious to see what was about to happen, Ryan grabbed the large bag that he was carrying all the coins in and emptied it out into the chest, nearly filling it to the brim. That was mostly thanks to the coins the Area Boss carried with it. And then, Runar closed the chest, waited a few moments, and then opened it up again.


    All the coins were gone, and in their stead, a small card was left behind. It was the size of a credit card, and Ryan quickly picked it up from the bottom of the chest. It didn''t have much on it. The area that was supposed to have a picture of someone was blank, and the slot for the name had jumbled letters. Underneath, there was a line that read ''Points - 487'', and right underneath there was a small symbol shaped like that gorilla''s head.


    "Is this what we buy things with?" Ryan asked, and Runar quickly nodded.


    "Yup," as Runar replied, he knocked on that old counter, "By the way, don''t attack. This is another monster we shouldn''t kill. Whoever does can''t use any of the gift shops anymore."


    Before Ryan could explain, something popped out from behind the counter. It was a humanoid figure wearing a large, over-the-top clown costume. While the clown didn''t talk, it did move in very exaggerated ways. The shelves behind it that were hidden by the darkness of the space until now were quickly lit up, revealing a number of classic things you could buy in this type of place.


    Plush toys of the mascots that Ryan had been killing so far, random small toys that would probably break in a couple of days, and random merch with the park''s logo on it.


    "... That''s it? Are these good for anything?" Ryan asked, pretty disappointed by what he was seeing in front of him, but Runar quickly shook his head.


    "Nope, these are totally, absolutely useless."


    "So why are we here? Just wasting our time?"


    "Be a bit more patient, man. Yeah, this is useless. But it won''t be in a second," Runar pointed out, leaning onto the counter. He pulled a coin out from his pocket, one of the plastic ones that Ryan had just exchanged for points, and threw it over to the clown who excitedly caught it. After taking a closer look at it, the clown stretched out his hand toward Runar.


    "Shake it," Runar said, and Ryan nervously did as told. He stepped up to the clown and shook its hand, and the bright smile on its face immediately disappeared, turning into a blank expression as the wall behind it changed.


    The toys and plushies fell onto a pile on the ground, revealing some other items in the background, as Runar began to explain.


    "So, this isn''t a well-known thing, since dungeons are usually destroyed very quickly, but dungeons can develop special abilities as well. Something like skills. Sometimes it''s through special conditions, other times it''s because the area the dungeon transformed is so unique and it had the time to develop that skill. In this case, we think that because we''ve sent so many different Awakened here that the dungeon can now sense classes, adjusting what it sells based on what the class needs. It''s literally class-exclusive items. It used to sell just things like guns, drugs, knives, swords... pretty bad stuff, but the weapons did come in useful, and every once in a while there was some kind of potion or something. And then, someday, it just fully changed to this kind of thing. The things that are sold will change completely based on whoever shakes the clown''s hand."


    Ryan looked at the shelves. Not that many of them were filled, but the ones that were, were pretty boring. Each slot on the wall was filled with a small ticket. A ''voucher''. No items, weapons, or anything of the sort. Just tickets. But looking closer at the small text written underneath them, Ryan raised his brows surprised.


    <blockquote>


    Gaia - Random Seed Voucher - 100 Points


    Gaia - Random Sapling Voucher - 200 Points


    Maximus - Random Weapon Voucher - 150 Points


    Maximus - Random Armour Voucher - 200 Points


    </blockquote>


    "Excuse me? What the, how can the dungeon-" Ryan started, but Runar shook his head as he replied.


    "I have no clue. I got a small booklet containing info about literal lost runes before. I don''t know how the dungeon can do this, but it can. But there''s a caveat," Runar pointed out, "This is it. You can buy these items, and then the store is just fully sold out to you. You can still get a ton of great stuff from here, but you get around five or six items, some more useful than others, and then you''re done. Though, for you it actually looks like each Maximus and Gaia count separately... and you don''t count at all. But well, I guess we should come back here whenever you become a new spirit''s keeper..."

 74 - Elemental Greatsword Granfell

    The shelves behind the clown monster were illuminated well, and Ryan looked at the vouchers propped up on small stands. While he was a little disappointed that there weren''t any items for himself, he figured the only items that could be here for him were spirit cores, and Ryan doubted that the dungeon could simply create those from thin air. Either way, the fact that the dungeon can create items corresponding to any class was ridiculous.


    "I''ll have a Seed Voucher and a Weapon Voucher," Ryan said, picking out the cheapest option for each Maximus and Gaia, and the clown held its hand forward, as if waiting for something. Figuring it was waiting to be paid first, Ryan gave it the point card and then watched as the number was reduced from 487 down to 237. The clown quickly returned the card and then turned around, grabbing the two items that Ryan asked for.


    "You''ve still got a lot of points. Just feel free to use them up," Runar pointed out, and Ryan shrugged lightly in response.


    "I was going to keep them saved for when Jester properly joins us."


    "By then, you''ll probably have more than enough coins to buy whatever else you want. The amount of points you get per monster you kill depends on their level, and you were in the lowest-level area so far."


    "Sure, but most of the points came from the area boss," Ryan pointed out, and Runar thought about it for a moment.


    "I guess so, but still, you''ll be fine. If need be, I''ll go grab a bunch of coins for you and we buy out the store."


    "If that works, why aren''t we doing that in the first place?"


    "Well, it''s easier to progress if you''re working toward a goal, right? You''ve been doing pretty well here in the dungeon, so I figured it''s a good idea to have you keep coming here periodically. Especially since Gregor is also a combatant, you''ll need to train him up a bit as well to be at the same level as the rest of you."


    Ryan slowly nodded and looked inwardly at Maximus and Gaia.


    ''Which one of you wants another item?'' he asked inwardly, and Maximus quickly shook his head, as if he was saying that he didn''t need it right now. Or rather, he probably wanted Gaia to have it. Looking at the items that were offered, Ryan turned over to his uncle, "Uh, are we allowed to grow a tree on the roof?"


    "... As long as it''s not a massive one, I don''t see why not? You''re planning on going for the Sapling Voucher, right?"


    "Mhm. Is that gonna be a problem?"


    "Well, trees do take long to grow, even when they''re magically enhanced. It should be fine at the very least until you''re done with Uni," Runar pointed out, "Worst case, we just get you a house with a proper, spacious garden near the caf¨¦."


    Ryan looked at his uncle with a narrowed gaze, "I''m still weirded out by the fact that you can just... say stuff like that. Yeah, sure, let''s just buy me a house with a garden in the most expensive part of the city."


    "Okay, sure, we''ve got money, so what? I mean, what did you expect when you realized that I run a caf¨¦ that''s basically only open every other day?" Runar asked with a raised brow, and Ryan was silent for a few moments.


    "I''ve felt a bit awkward to ask this until now, but... do you think we could do something for my mom?"


    "Yeah, sure, we can figure something out," Runar nodded immediately, patting his nephew on the back. With a bit of relief, Ryan looked back at the clown, buying the Sapling Voucher as well.


    Ryan took a closer look at the three tickets, and they had a dotted line with ''tear here'' written next to it. He should be able to store everything in the domains anyway, so Ryan quickly tore the tickets.


    <hr>


    [Random Seed Voucher has been redeemed - Three Random Seeds have been awarded]


    -[Rock Melon Seeds]


    -[Red Basil Seeds]


    -[Radiant Tomato Seeds]


    [Random Sapling Voucher has been redeemed - One Random Sapling has been awarded]


    -[Golden Apple Tree Sapling]


    [Random Weapon Voucher has been redeemed - One Random Weapon has been awarded]


    -[Elemental Greatsword Granfell]


    <hr>


    Ryan watched as the items were placed right on the ground in front of him. Three small seed packets, a paper-wrapped sapling placed into a small plastic pot, as well as a small cardboard box containing the kit that was needed to build the sword. He quickly explained what the system window told him, and Runar listened curiously.


    "Hm, interesting, alright. I''ve heard about Rock Melons, but neither Red Basil nor Radiant Tomatoes. And Golden Apples? I think they''re some magical fruit that help with mana recovery, so that''s incredibly useful," Runar pointed out, but Ryan was rather focused on something else. He was more curious about the greatsword, and he could feel Tiar wriggling excitedly on his left arm as well


    "I think my Spirit Armament skill would work on the weapon Maximus got," Ryan pointed out, and Runar raised a brow.


    "Wait, really? I guess it would. Do you want to try it out?"


    "I''d have to build it first, but... kind of," Ryan responded, and Runar shrugged. He pulled out his pen-wand and wrote something on the ground. Just a moment later, the old wooden boards on the ground creaked and split open as roots pierced through them. The roots formed the shape of a table and a pair of chairs, one of which Runar quickly sat down on.


    "... Magic really is convenient, huh?"


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    "It has its upsides," Runar replied smugly, as Ryan squatted down. He put the small sapling and the seeds into the domain, something that was luckily still possible in their current state, and then grabbed the cardboard box with the sword.


    Since this was a piece that belonged to Maximus, the knight quickly stepped out of his domain, standing on the table curiously as Ryan pulled out his tools from his bag. He carried them with him everywhere for emergencies, just in case he needed to repair either Maximus or Gaia. He didn''t want them to have to wait until they were home while Ryan could get healed right away.


    Ryan opened the box and pulled out the parts. It wasn''t a very complicated thing to build; rather, it was quite simple and straightforward.


    Though, that was something that Ryan expected, anyway. Most swords didn''t have a particularly complex shape, after all. There were a fair amount of pieces though, being a greatsword that would probably be about Maximus'' size once assembled.


    Ryan quickly used his Spirit Construction skill and got started taking all the pieces out of the frames, trying to sort them a bit on the table. He didn''t have the boxes that he usually sorted them into with him, after all. His skill was active for almost 30 minutes at this point, and with his dexterity at a whopping 1.72 and his intuition similarly high, Ryan was able to easily put the sword together before the half-hour was up.


    The sword quickly took on a recognizable shape, and in the middle of putting it together, Ryan''s curiosity got the better of him. Just to test it out, he ran one of the edge-pieces over some of the hairs exposed on his arm, and the edge cleanly cut through them. These pieces were incredibly sharp, so he should be careful with it.


    Before long, Ryan finished assembling the sword. It was clearly a sword that belonged to Maximus, through and through. It was the same silver and red that his armour was. Clearly excited, more so than he ever had been about any of the weapons that the craftsmen had made for him, Maximus stared at the sword and Ryan quickly gave it to him. The knight''s hand closed around the sword''s handle, and he slowly waved it around, feeling the weight.


    "So, what''s the ''elemental'' part?" Ryan wondered, and Maximus stared at the blade for a few moments. He jumped from the table, grasping his sword tightly with both hands. Ryan watched as Maximus took on a stance that he used a lot when fighting with a sword. He had a lot of very different styles of movement that he used for different situations, and something told Ryan that this sword could take advantage of that fact.


    Maximus held the sword up above his head, swinging it down in a swift motion. With fast, tight angles, the knight swung the sword as the dust on the ground around him was pushed around. The more he moved, the more the air around him moved. It was clear that Maximus himself was just getting used to this as well. His aura was slowly filling out the sword as the Knight''s Attack skill was activated, and at that point, the wind became even stronger as wisps of his aura were flowing out of the blade like they were carried along by a gust. One of Maximus'' slashes managed to carry for quite a while, leaving a narrow scar in the wood of the wall.


    And then, Maximus slowed down considerably. The motions of his sword became wider and smoother. It was like they were slower, but more intentional than before. The wind settled down, and instead, Ryan and his uncle watched as the sword''s edge was enveloped in a thin veil of water. With every cut or stab, aura-infused streams shot forward, deepening the light cut in the wall.


    When he was satisfied, Maximus'' sword form changed again, this time becoming almost erratic and speeding up again. This time, the edge of the blade turned a bright red as it heated up, and flames followed behind every one of Maximus'' movements.


    One more time, Maximus'' swordsmanship changed. The way he moved was like his sword suddenly became heavier. And it probably did; it was quickly enveloped in a layer of stone that seemed to appear out of nowhere, built up by Maximus'' aura.


    "Well, would you look at that," Runar grinned lightly, "I guess that would be the ''elemental'' part. I wonder if that means all the weapons the craftsmen made are obsolete now."


    Ryan quickly shook his head, "Maximus isn''t the type to stick to just one weapon. This is definitely useful though... there''s two more weapon vouchers. I wonder what else he''ll get."


    "Hm... I don''t quite remember the mechanism behind getting weapons. They can''t just give out random quests for it either. It might have something to do with a skill you''ll get as you level up."


    "Urgh... that''s going to take quite a while, right? You also said something about a skill that allows the spirits to be further away from me, and there''s not even a guarantee that those will be the next two skills I''ll get."


    "Well, sure," Runar replied, "But the Spirit Keeper has a history of levelling up pretty fast compared to others. Especially as you become the keeper of more spirits, your levelling speed will just increase. Not proportionally, I guess, but you''ll still do better than others."


    "If you say so," Ryan groaned, getting up from his seat, grabbing grabbing the steel rebars attached to his backpack before placing them on the ground and stretching his hand out toward Maximus, "Mind if we give it a go?"


    Maximus quickly nodded, releasing the sword. It fell apart into red wisps that quickly flowed into Ryan''s fingertips, safely appearing right next to the spare part of Maximus'' armour. Ryan looked at Tiar on the back of his hand.


    "I know this might be a bit of a waste of the skill use for the day, but it''s worth it, right?"


    "????(??? )", Tiar replied, giving a quick thumbs up as Ryan held his hand out to the steel rebar, quickly activating the Spirit Armament skill. The symbiote''s tendrils quickly reached out to the metal and tore it apart like it was clay, shaping the steel into the shape of a sword, starting at the hilt. Piece by piece, the weight increased, and Ryan did whatever he could to keep the blade upright. But by the time the sword was fully put together, it was far too massive for Ryan to actually use.


    Sure, he could keep it somewhat upright if he tried really hard, but swinging something like this around the way Maximus did was absolutely impossible. And the weight wasn''t even the main issue here, it was just the sheer size. It was more than two metres long altogether, so the tip of the sword always seemed like it was being pulled to the ground by a magnet. With his un-awakened strength, there was no way he could use this productively in a fight.


    "I really hope I awaken my strength stat soon," Ryan groaned as the tip of the sword dug into the old wooden floor, "There''s no hope for me to activate the ''elemental'' part of it either, is there?"


    Maximus slowly shook his head.


    "Yeah, I thought so..."


    "Cheer up, maybe at some point you can actually use it properly. I feel like those flames would kind of suit you," Runar pointed out, but Ryan sighed. He let go of the sword and deactivated the skill, making it fall apart into smaller pieces.


    "No, I won''t. Unless I awaken Aura and learn Maximus'' swordsmanship, at least," Ryan explained, "His swordsmanship stances are basically a physical pattern that imbue Maximus'' aura with some elemental aspects. Those aspects can''t usually show, at least not with Maximus'' current level of Aura, but the sword, Granfell, seems like it can properly take those elemental aspects and actually make them appear like that."


    Runar glanced over at Maximus and then back at his nephew, "You got all that from him just shaking his head?"


    "That was basically just a confirmation of what I already thought. My Intuition isn''t that high yet," Ryan scoffed, scratching the back of his head, "Whatever, I''m pretty happy with the bat Silvia made for me. And it suits me a lot more, anyway."


    "Sure, sure. So, now that we know what kind of items you can get through the gift shop, let''s get you to the next area. Though it''s going to be a bit rougher in a lot of ways," Runar explained, and Ryan curiously raised his brows.


    "Oh, alright! I''m guessing it''s still going to be a simple fighting thing, right? No puzzles? If so, we''ll definitely be fine."


    "Hah, honestly, with your type of intuition you should be able to get through puzzles pretty easily. But yeah, it''s just a combat area. But it''s rough because for one, the enemies are a bit higher levelled and act in small groups. Plus, also because of their appearance."


    "Their appearance? Can''t imagine anything more off-putting than a rotting, living mascot suit."


    "Yeah, so... the next area will be the petting zoo."

 75 - Aura Capacity

    The gate in front of Ryan was foreboding. It was old and run down, covered in rust and all sorts of grime. But it wasn''t really about the gate itself, rather, it was about what would be behind this gate. Monsters that were born from the ''memory'' of the animals that used to be in this place. Though, that was mostly just in regard to their appearance, since monsters were usually pretty hostile, though Ryan now knew that there were exceptions in some places, such as the Gift Shop.


    He took a deep breath and pushed against the gate, making it open up with a high-pitched creak. The first ones to step inside, instead of Ryan himself, were Gaia''s two sub-golems. Ryan was connected to them through the Spirit Link skill again, so he was using them as scouts. Since these monsters were apparently a lot tougher to deal with than the mascots, it was incredibly important for them all to know what they were dealing with.


    This area was already pretty tough to deal with, though. Since it was made for animals, there was lots of dirt and grass and even some trees planted within the fences, and after this long, many of those plants, or even others that intruded from elsewhere, would have grown tall enough to block Ryan''s sight. And that was without the dungeon''s distortion of everything. With it, it seemed like Ryan was supposed to push his way through the jungle.


    "Urgh... great, can''t wait to be ambushed by wild monster animals... my dream was always to have my throat torn out by some bunnies," Ryan grumbled to himself, holding his shield in front of his body as he carefully proceeded forward. It was a bit tough for the sub-golems to see here, but due to their point-of-view, they had a somewhat easier time looking through some of the grasses and weeds.


    And due to that, they quickly saw a flash of white and brown pass by as dried leaves and and plants were rustled. Ryan could actually hear it from all directions, as if something was surrounding him, just a few steps into the petting zoo''s fenced-off areas. Ryan groaned as a bad feeling overcame him.


    "Me and my big fucking mouth," Ryan immediately glanced over at Maximus, who was holding onto the greatsword Granfell again. While he would still use many of the weapons attached to Ryan''s armour throughout the course of the different battles, he only just attained Granfell. So it was probably a good idea to make sure Maximus was properly used to the special effect of the sword and could adjust to it. From what Ryan had seen in the gift shop, Maximus was able to deal with it very well already, but it was better to be safe than sorry.


    Not to mention, Maximus was clearly just excited to use his swordsmanship to its fullest degree. Maximus held onto his sword tightly, glancing around himself to get ready for any sort of attack. Ryan was carefully watching to make sure that they could catch the actual monster that was incoming, when the sound of paws stomping the ground could be heard. Immediately, Ryan exclaimed.


    "To your right!"


    Maximus reacted, swinging his sword to the right in a straight, swift motion. The blades of grass around him were pushed out of the way as a crescent of aura-infused wind shot out toward the enemy. It was a white rabbit, probably three times the size of a normal bunny, with large, incredibly sharp teeth that seemed almost like knives growing out of its mouth.


    That crescent cut into the rabbit''s fur, though not all too deeply. It was able to draw some blood, dyeing a portion of the matted, almost grey dirty hair, a deep red. The rabbit flinched back for a moment, as Maximus'' second slash reached the rabbit as well. He was closing in, step by step, as his sword was speedily swung around.


    However, this wasn''t the only monster that was attacking. The monsters of this area attacked in groups, and the second and third of the group were approaching just a beat after the first. From two completely different directions, at that. Luckily, Gaia was standing right behind Ryan, in range for the Spirit''s Domain skill. In the worst-case scenario, he could forcefully pull the golem into her domain before any of the monsters could even get close to her.


    That being the case, Ryan didn''t have much time to focus on that. Another one of the rabbits was jumping right at him. With his weight behind it, Ryan slammed his shield at the monster. The weight of the impact was nearly enough to throw Ryan onto his back, but it didn''t seem to have left the rabbit without consequence either. It was, at the very least, stunned for a few moments. As this happened, Ryan swung his bat down at the third of the monster rabbits. It hopped out of the way, though the solid metal bat still scraped by its leg, clearly injuring it.


    As this happened, a message popped up in front of Ryan''s eyes.


    <hr>


    [You have killed a Level 6 -Giant Rabbit-]


    <hr>


    Ryan glanced behind himself, seeing Maximus pull his sword out of the rabbit''s throat. The knight quickly came running back at him, and Ryan immediately swung his bat toward him. Of course, that wasn''t to attack him, but since the bat was filled with Ryan''s mana, it extended the reach of the Spirit''s Domain skill.


    And so, Maximus and his sword quickly fell apart into wisps of red, quickly flowing over the bat and onto Ryan''s hand. The wisps dove into his skin, and Ryan could feel Maximus almost instantly move in and out of his own domain. Just instead of reappearing in the same spot he was in before, Maximus appeared closer to the other two rabbits.


    The first one he attacked was the stunned one, which was still recovering from the shield-bash. Dropping down from around two feet above it, Maximus stabbed his sword into the rabbit''s back. The smell of burning flesh immediately spread out as part of the rabbit''s fur caught fire, but it didn''t take long until that fire stopped again as its fuel fell apart.


    <hr>


    [You have killed a Level 6 -Giant Rabbit-]


    <hr>


    Ryan grinned lightly as he watched Maximus tear his sword back out of the dead rabbit''s body, jumping off of it right toward the last of the trio. Swinging the sword upward while barely in range, Maximus cut through the rabbit''s snout, slashing back down immediately after. The sword was buried in the rabbit''s face, though just for a few moments.


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    <hr>


    [You have killed a level 6 -Giant Rabbit-]


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Carefully turning the dial, Modak adjusted the values of the speaker in front of him. It was the special speaker that him and Marge had put together as a prototype. It read the pattern engraved on the mana-cassettes, outputting the corresponding sound while amplifying the imbued mana by a certain factor.


    That part of it was working quite well; there was an output of mana that could be read through the sensors that they had put up in front of it. As a test to make sure that the output was actually to the correct strength and accurate to what was on the tape. Luckily that seemed to be the case, at least, so Modak was currently trying to resolve another issue.


    While the strength was fine, the mana was spread out too much. The pulses needed to be a lot more refined, so that was what he was trying to figure out right now. Whether it was the strength of the electrical current, of the mana current, or the values that could be adjusted on the speaker itself, he had to test out a lot of things to see what the changes in the output were.


    Though, while Modak was sitting right in front of the speaker, Marge was on the other side of the room wearing protective gear.


    "Are you sure you will be fine like that? There''s quite a lot of mana being thrown right at you..." Marge pointed out with a worried expression, and Modak laughed slightly as he nodded his head.


    "Yes, I''m fine, don''t worry. As I said before, my body completely rejects all mana, so I never have to worry about any sort of mana-poisoning," the orc explained, but Marge didn''t seem fully convinced.


    "... I know about mana-rejection disorder, but is that usually something to this degree? Isn''t it generally that the person is more prone to any sort of mana-related side effects like mana-poisoning?"


    "Hm, well, there''s different forms of it, for sure," Modak explained, slowly turning around on his swivel chair, looking at the cyclops across the room, "It''s a rare disorder in the first place, and the form that it takes for me is rare even amongst everyone that has MRD. In most cases, mana can enter the individual but it can''t latch onto anything there or interact with the person''s innate mana, because they don''t have enough. That means it lingers there and can cause something like an ''infection'', basically. But in my case, my body fully rejects mana completely, meaning that even if it does enter my body, it''s pushed out almost immediately."


    "Isn''t that a little bothersome? Especially here, there''s so much that needs a pulse of mana for activation. Even many of the doors do..."


    Modak smiled, "It''s bothersome, sure, but we''re Magic Engineers. I know how to work around that," he explained, pulling out his phone.


    His phone case was something he made himself with a very simply mechanism placed into it, "Basically, I created a weak, miniature-version of the mana-emitter that we''re working on and placed it onto my phone case. It''s just barely strong enough to activate most everyday magic items here at the tower, and I only need to activate it for a few seconds with the small switch here, so even a small battery should last for a few months."


    Curious, Marge came a few steps closer to take a look at Modak''s phone case, "Interesting! That does seem quite ingenious!"


    "Thanks, I''m quite proud of it as well," Modak pointed out, "Though, I just wish it helped us figure out how to properly dial in this emitter. We need to get that figured out before we can do any sort of tests or experiments on getting magical effects to pop up."


    "Certainly, there''s far too much loss through the emission, the mana-patterns that are created through the auditory output are practically bleeding into each other," Marge agreed, sighing deeply, "I just wish mana acted more like aura in that way."


    "Aura? What do you mean?"


    "Well, aura comes from the physical body, so it''s a bit more ''solid'' of an energy, if that makes sense. It doesn''t tend to ''bleed'' as much as mana does."


    Modak thought about it for a few moments, looking at the machine in front of him, "In that case, maybe it''s worth looking into aura a bit. Does the tower have any books on that?"


    "I think there should be a few, here or there. With the higher prominence of Enhancers, a few people popped up that were interested in studying the interactions between aura and mana."


    Pushing his chair to the nearby computer, Modak quickly looked at the magic tower''s internal database. There was a list with all the ongoing research projects and their corresponding locations, and as Marge said, there were a few that dealt with aura. Particularly, there was one small team researching the relationship between aura and mana, and how to transfer the qualities of aura to mana or vice-versa.


    "Alright, I''ll try to see if they can tell me anything about that. They''ll obviously know a lot about how to manipulate the properties of mana in the way we need," Modak suggested, standing up with a slight yawn. He made his way out of the lab and approached the tower''s main building. Tapping his phone to the sensor next to the door, Modak activated the low-power mana emission to open the door. Ignoring the whispers and stares of the other people working at the tower, Modak walked up the stairs to the right floor, seeking out the lab in the hopes that the people working on the project were here today.


    To his luck, though, it seemed like someone was there, an elderly human researcher currently flipping through the pages of a book.


    "Excuse me, are you Jack Field?" Modak asked, and the researcher slowly raised his head.


    "Hm? Yes, that would be me, how can I help you?"


    The orc quickly approached him, stretching out his hand for a greeting, "I''m Modak Stonebreaker, I''m working on a project involving the artificial emission of mana-infused soundwaves to mimic magical chanting. It''s a bit of a long shot, but I figured you might know a thing or two about manipulating the properties of mana that could be useful to us."


    The researcher raised a brow as he shook Modak''s hand, "Ah, I see. Well, I have been in a bit of a rut recently, so a change of pace might be quite nice. Plus, I have heard a few rumours about you as well, so I was feeling rather curious already."


    "Oh... have you?" Modak asked, though he was already aware that most people had heard about the ''new kid without mana'' that had suddenly joined on the tower mistress'' recommendation.


    "Indeed I have. I''m curious, do you truly have no mana at all?"


    "... Yes, I don''t have any mana. None at all, but no, it doesn''t hinder me physically or mentally," Modak replied immediately, but Jack just let out a laugh into his thick grey beard.


    "Don''t worry, I''m well aware of that. A lack of mana doesn''t influence the physical body in any particular way," Jack pointed out, looking Modak up and down, "However, I am rather curious about your capacity for aura. You see, mana and aura are forces that tend to balance each other. They can''t mix together, hence why the unique interactions between aura and mana such as through and enhancer''s abilities are so interesting. But in most, especially in those that aren''t Awakened, lower mana means a generally higher innate capacity for aura."


    Modak raised his brow a bit, "So what, you think I have a super high capacity for aura just cause I don''t have any mana?"


    "It is certainly a question that interests me quite a bit. So how about we help each other? I try to help you adjust the properties of the mana in your project, and you let me indulge in my professional curiosities. I feel as though neither of us really loses out here, is that not so?"


    "Well, you''re right with that," the orc replied. He really didn''t know a lot about aura. Sure, he learned a bit more about it since he started getting closer to Yanna, but he didn''t fully understand it. Maybe he could brag a bit if he turned out to have a high aura capacity. With a smile, he looked at the researcher, "Alright, let''s do just that."

 76 - Nemesis

    The spear stabbed into the body of the goat very precisely. It pierced the spine in a particular spot, so despite the small size of the spear and the massive horse-sized body of the goat. Its body collapsed, paralyzed, as Maximus took the chance to stab the spear the back of the goat''s head. It got stuck in its skull for a moment, so the knight formed a fist and punched the spear deeper in.


    The weapon disappeared in the monster''s head as blood gushed out from the wound, but that didn''t last long. The monstrous goat collapsed, and its body soon started to disappear. Ryan didn''t even need to wait for the system message confirming it to know that the monster was dead. Though, there were a few more things that popped up together with said confirmation.


    <hr>


    [You have killed a level 8 -Giant Goat-]


    [Maximus has levelled up!]


    [Maximus has learned the skill -Knight''s Nemesis-]


    [You have attained a new Expansion kit for the Maximus Series - Crusader Model]


    <hr>


    Ryan grinned broadly as he looked at the system message. Maximus had finally reached level 10! And it looked like what Runar had said was true; every ten levels, the spirits unlocked something additional beyond just the skill that came when anyone levelled up ten times. In Maximus'' case, that was another expansion kit, while for Gaia, it was most likely going to be seeds or saplings.


    Ryan definitely did wonder what exactly the other spirits would end up unlocking every time. That being the case, he had to take a look at the expansion kit later, for now, it was time to check out Maximus'' status.


    <hr>


    [Maximus]


    [Knight | Level - 10(+1)]


    [AP - 59(+4)]


    [Stats]


    -[Aura - 1.38(+0.09)]


    -[Strength - 1.49(+0.08)]


    -[Stamina 1.35(+0.08)]


    -[Resistance - 1.49(+0.09)]


    -[Physicality - 1.37(+0.08)]


    [Skills]


    -[Knight''s Attack | Level - 12]


    -[Knight''s Guard | Level - 10]


    -[Knight''s Martial Knowledge | Level - 11]


    -[Knight''s Nemesis | Level - 1 (New!)]


    <hr>


    Quickly checking Maximus'' status window, Ryan immediately widened his eyes, "Excuse me? 0.42 total increase? Maximus, this is insane."


    The knight, currently picking up the spear that was revealed after the monster goat''s body completely fell apart, looked over toward Ryan with a smug demeanour.


    "Yeah, yeah, you''re amazing, I get it," Ryan chuckled, before quickly pulling up the information of Maximus'' new skill.


    <hr>


    [Knight''s Nemesis]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency - 0%]


    [By declaring a nemesis, all damage toward that individual will increase, but damage toward anyone else will decrease up until a certain point]


    [Effect - 10% Damage Correction]


    [Cost - 25 AP] [Cooldown - 24 Hours or 1 Minute after death of Nemesis]


    <hr>


    "Oh shit, okay, that seems like a pretty good skill... and it should work with your Attack skill pretty well too..." Ryan muttered. He didn''t know how this skill would grow as it levelled up, but if it started out with a 10% damage boost, he could imagine that it got incredibly powerful very quickly. Though, at the same time, the fact that damage toward others will decrease was a little alarming. Especially here, where all enemies moved in groups, it could cause a lot of trouble if Maximus suddenly couldn''t do damage to them anymore. That meant they needed to be a lot more careful about the situation they used that skill in. But at the same time, if this skill was levelled up a bit more, then it could turn the tide of a battle if used properly. Plus, the ''1 minute after death of nemesis'' cooldown option did open the possibility for consecutively using the skill as a last blow.


    Ryan immediately started thinking about potential uses for the skill, though for the time being, he just had to hurry up and level himself up a bit more too. Any of the Spirit Keeper skills that Ryan knew about would only speed things up in the long run. Even the skill that allowed Spirits to be further away from him would be useful, since that meant that Gaia could stay in her garden while Ryan and Maximus were fighting in the dungeon.


    "Maximus, let''s find some monsters to try the skill out on," Ryan grinned lightly, and Maximus immediately nodded his head. The sub-golems were already looking for any nearby monsters hiding in the bushes or tall grass.


    Just then, the sound of steps filled Ryan''s ears. They were large and heavy, but they seemed to only belong to one animal. Runar had given him just a single warning for this area; if an animal appeared alone, then it was most likely the area boss. A bit curious, wondering what the area boss looked like, Ryan sent one of the sub-golems toward the source of those steps. The monster that walked there, crushing all the plants in its way, was a Moss Sheep.


    Usually, these sheep were small, barely larger than a rabbit, and the reason they were popular was because they were so small and docile. That''s why you barely saw a petting zoo without them, so Ryan was a bit surprised he hadn''t seen any here yet. He thought that maybe they weren''t as popular back when this place was still open. But if the area boss was a Moss Sheep, then it made sense he hadn''t seen one here yet. Though, it did make Ryan a bit curious; why was the Moss Sheep, of all animals, chosen as the area boss?If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Being an amusement park, maybe it had something to do with popularity. It would be in line with the plaza''s area boss. It was the park''s headlining mascot, after all. And who knew what the dungeon considered important when it created the monsters and bosses? Though, Ryan did quickly realize another connection between the area bosses beyond just their popularity.


    The Moss Sheep was carrying something in its mouth; a dead giant rabbit. Of course, the fact that the usually so tiny moss sheep was even larger than the giant goats was a bit of a shock in itself, but seeing the favourite animal of so many kids with sharp, blood-soaked fangs was even worse. In the first place, Moss Sheep were complete herbivores; rather, due to their nature of being hybrids with moss, they barely had to eat in the first place and could strive for weeks on just a bit of water.


    Dungeons worked off memories. The memories left behind in a location, of what that place used to be. The significance of that area. That was why the abandoned copper foundry''s monsters were basically those foundry workers, and copper was processed and melted despite the fact that the foundry had been out of use for years and years by that point.


    Of course, those memories were always skewed to some degree. After all, those foundry workers didn''t go around trying to kill everyone that entered, and they certainly didn''t pour molten copper onto each other. Those ''settings'' were added because the dungeon needed a way to protect itself. That''s why monsters attacked intruders. And by using the copper to ''improve'' the monsters, it could strengthen itself more effectively. But that shouldn''t go to the degree of completely changing things to this level.


    Ryan had a good idea as to why the monsters in this area were oversized. All the plants here had grown so much that the dungeon probably just scaled up the monsters as well. But why would it have such a docile, kind creature, of all possible monsters, turn into a vicious, blood hungry predator? Did the setting of the moss sheep mix with some other animal? Or was there more to it? Maybe there was something wrong with this place even before it had turned into a dungeon. Some sort of curse or corruption that made the moss sheep turn violent and blood hungry.


    At the same time, something must have been going on with other places in the dungeon as well. The gift shop was probably a front for illegal weapon trade. Maybe the guy who used to wear the gorilla costume was a murderer who went around killing others, and that''s why the area boss was actively killing other mascots.


    Of course, Ryan had little ways to verify that now. Any sort of ''clue'' couldn''t be trusted anymore now that the dungeon took over and distorted everything. Instead of being a murderer, the guy in the gorilla costume could have just been a bit more violent or got in a fight with other mascots once or twice. Dungeons exaggerated everything and anything, so nothing could be trusted 100%, but it was a fact that something was completely and utterly wrong with this amusement park before it closed down.


    Though, while Ryan was certainly curious, it really didn''t matter anymore. Decades had passed, and it was impossible to really figure it all out now. And maybe Runar already knew everything about the history of the amusement park and simply didn''t tell Ryan about it. There were a lot of things he was still keeping to himself, after all. At some level, it felt like Runar was just trying to seem ''mysterious'' for no reason other than to seem cool to Ryan and his friends.


    Whichever was the case, right now, it was probably still a bit too risky to face the area boss. Or at least, that''s what Ryan''s gut feeling was telling him. And at this point, he would trust his gut feeling even if it told him that 2 plus 2 equalled 5.


    Luckily, the sub-golems were fully made of stone, so if they stood still, the monsters of this area tended to not even notice them. Ryan didn''t want to risk drawing any attention toward them, so they would just let the area boss pass by them for now.


    Once the moss sheep was far enough away that it wasn''t an imminent threat anymore, Ryan pulled back the sub-golems and started moving into the opposite direction away from the moss sheep. Luckily, Ryan''s intuition soon told him that they were fine to proceed as normal, though that really just showed itself in the fact that the hairs on the back of his neck finally calmed down. Though that didn''t mean they were safe; rather, it was the opposite. They were walking straight into a larger group of giant rabbits, which Maximus quickly hurried to take out while Ryan was distracting them, as they had been doing for a little while now.


    While that was happening, though, Ryan was continuously thinking about how he could possibly improve his own levelling speed. Maximus'' class was specifically a combat class centred around the protection of others and the eradication of ''enemies'', and since monsters were practically the incarnation of the concept of ''enemy'' in situations like this, a dungeon was the perfect place for Maximus to level up.


    At the same time, Gaia levelled up more by her simply being in her garden and interacting with her plants. Preparing the soil, getting rid of weeds, looking after freshly-sprouted seeds; all of that gave Gaia her experience.


    Meanwhile, Ryan''s class was all about supporting the spirits to reach their goals and help them grow, that was why he generally gained experience just by Maximus and Gaia levelling up, but the more he supported them in their endeavours, the faster he should level up. That was why Ryan carried Maximus'' weapons and participated in combat to some degree, or why he helped with manual labour in Gaia''s garden. But still, Ryan wondered if there was a more efficient way for him to help. Some specific method that he could follow that would maximize how fast he himself could level up while making sure Maximus and Gaia properly grew at the same time.


    Maybe he would have a bit more leeway with these matters once he gathered more skills or became the keeper of more spirits, but right now, he really didn''t know what else he could do to help the spirits out. That was why he was also doing the best he could to ''excite'' Jester and wake up Gregor.


    At least Gregor seemed to be reacting well to the models Ryan had been building recently, though they were annoyingly complex. Different to the plastic models that Ryan usually built, these ones had to be assembled in annoyingly realistic ways. He had to add oils, tighten screws, and balance parts in ways he never had to do before, so Ryan was struggling a bit. But he was getting better, so hopefully Gregor would respond soon. The real issue was Jester, and Ryan was getting a bit annoyed.


    He was trying to do anything he could that may count as exciting, some of which worked, while others did not. Watching movies, playing games, going to locations that got Ryan''s heart beating crazy fast like the rooftops of skyscrapers; he did everything short of skydiving, though he was considering that for a while too. Sometimes, Jester ''grew more excited'', though that only seemed to be a small increase. The part that seemed to always excite Jester the most was combat. Fighting. Particularly when Ryan put his own body on the line. He tried sparring with Anders the other day, and while that sparked up a little something in Jester, it faded away pretty quickly. And Ryan also didn''t want to jeopardize the time in the dungeon right now for something that probably wouldn''t even work anyway.


    So, there was just one more idea that came to Ryan''s mind, though he would rather not. He didn''t usually walk around to seek out fights, but maybe that was exactly what he had to do; get into real fights with others. The only reason why Ryan was even considering that was because he didn''t awaken any additional stats, though, otherwise it would be morally more than questionable.


    "Urgh..." with a loud groan, Ryan thought about going out of the way to get roughed up, just so that this obviously sadistic creep of a clown could get off on it. Actually, Ryan had already picked out something that he was going to try and get done later today, though again, he would really rather not.


    But for now, he should at least focus on what was currently going on again. He was distracting some rabbits as Maximus took three of them down, one after another. And while the last one was left, the knight quickly activated his new skill. As he did, Ryan could see a pulse of Maximus'' red, wispy aura flow toward the giant rabbit, enveloping it for a few moments. The aura practically seeped into the rabbit''s body, before forming a small ''mark'' that was hidden underneath the monster''s fur.


    Clearly, that was there to show the enemy that was designated as the ''nemesis''. Ryan wondered if others could see that mark as well, though they probably couldn''t sense the aura in the same way that Ryan could. If this mark stayed around, then maybe this wasn''t just a good way to take an enemy down faster, but also to keep track of a particular target like an actual ''tracking'' type skill, even if that meant that Maximus was weakened against anyone else for a while.


    Seeing that the skill activated, Maximus quickly began to attack the giant rabbit, hurrying to take down his new nemesis.

 77 - Gregors Machinations

    "Are the preparations done?" Christopher stared at the gnome standing in front of him, who just rolled his eyes and nodded.


    "Yes, Christopher, for the last time, they are done," Richard responded, but Christopher didn''t seem particularly happy about the tone that Richard was taking.


    "You remember your position here, don''t you?"


    "Of course. You''re the one in charge. But you''re also the one that dragged me into doing some highly illegal shit for you, and I''m a Technomancer. I have literally all the proof in the world to absolutely ruin you, so... take it easy."


    Christopher leaned back against the backrest behind him, "... And here I thought you were supposed to be a bit more friendly. I guess that''s corruption for you, huh?"


    "Isn''t the corruption the reason you ended up scouting me in the first place? So stop complaining," Richard kept his hands behind his back, standing still in front of his superior''s desk. Christopher sighed loudly.


    "When you came in for orientation at Bluesky that day and we sensed you were corrupted and somehow managed to retain your sanity, we did realize that you were someone we had to properly use, yes. But that doesn''t mean you''re at our level here. I''m still your boss."


    "Officially, I''m a Bluesky employee. And I don''t think that you are employed there. So actually, you''re just someone I''m doing favours for. So, I''d rather think that you should be grateful I''m spreading my corruption around to all the places you want."


    Christopher stared across the table, "What do you want?"


    "I want you to fill me in," Richard said bluntly, "Frankly, I like this sensation. The corruption makes me feel powerful, and it certainly gave me quite the boost to my abilities. My mana recovers like crazy, and my stats are growing faster than ever before. I even seem to level up a bit faster. But even so, at the end of the day, I''m still a mage. I want to know what this is, and why it acts the way it does."


    With a raised brow, the lamia looked at the man across from him, "Haven''t we been giving you all the resources that you need to fulfil your curiosities?"


    "It''s not enough, and you know it. There''s barely anything useful about corruption in any of the forums I frequent, even the hidden ones, nor is there anything in the university''s library. Yeah, you''ve been testing me, grabbing samples, drawing blood, all that. But that''s more useful for you than it is for me to learn what I actually want to learn," Richard explained, "I think it''s about time you explain to me why I''ve become your little goon, and why you have such control over Bluesky."


    "Dream on," Christopher scoffed, "We both know that''s not going to happen so easily."


    "Oh really? And here I thought my blackmail threats would be enough," with a sigh, Richard closed his eyes for a few moments, but Christopher just laughed in response, his tail coiling around his seat in amusement.


    "Yeah sorry, but even if you''re a Technomancer, we''ve got our ways to stomp anything you try. So it would be better for you if you just... don''t," he pointed out, "And I will just say, but I do agree. You deserve to know more, and I''m sure you could be a valuable asset if we filled you in completely."


    Opening his eyes again, Richard looked at the lamia a bit confused, "Then why haven''t you done it yet?"


    "Because it''s not my choice. You need to prove your worth to him first. And I have a pretty good idea of what he will like."


    A grin formed on Christopher''s face, his sharp fangs being revealed behind his lips. Just a few weeks ago, Richard would have jumped back, scared, but now, he didn''t really feel things like fear anymore. He didn''t feel a lot of things anymore.


    "Fine. What is it?" the gnome asked, and Christopher quickly explained, as if he had been waiting for a way to solve this issue.


    "There''s this girl that''s been running around the city, causing trouble like you wouldn''t believe. And she''s been a bit of a sore spot to us."


    As Christopher said so, he reached out to his computer mouse, navigating through his file storage. He was done just a few moments later, quickly turning the monitor around to Richard. The gnome looked at the screen curiously. It was a young woman, probably around Richard''s age, with some massive antlers on her head, decorated with glass flowers.


    Christopher smiled, "Do something about her."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    A piece clicked into place, and Ryan pulled back his hands. They were covered in motor oil, and his clothes were just as stained. Even Tiar was growing annoyed at his patterns being covered by the black liquid.


    "Why the hell are these models... this realistic?" he groaned, though he already knew the answer. It was to make more Awakened.


    Many people believed that, if someone grew up deeply immersed in particular things from a young age, they were more likely to awaken a similar class later in life, compared to if they were to just start working that job in their adult years. That was why ''toys'' like this were pretty common.


    This one in particular was probably made so that more mechanical engineers would pop up. There were toys that were supposed to improve magic compatibility, and even creepily realistic toy guns to increase the amount of gunmen that awakened.


    Of course, there wasn''t any actual ''proof'' to the idea that this sort of thing increased the probability of awakening. It was more of a rumour or some kind of fairy tale, but it did result in a few pretty unique toys like this. Even if it was pretty damn annoying for Ryan to deal with right now.


    "Okay, come on, baby!" Ryan grinned, pushing the last pieces into place. He reached inside and carefully twisted the oversized key around, and the motors quickly began to rumble. It was a small car model, and it was so detailed that Ryan was sure Maximus might be able to drive in it, if every part of it were actually linked up properly. It looked realistic, of course, but there were a lot of parts that still didn''t work right. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    But, at the very least, it seemed to be enough to give Gregor a small push. This was the third of these models that Ryan had built, and every time, Gregor seemed to have an extremely short moment of waking up. The same thing was happening now, and immediately, Ryan pulled the spirit''s core out of the space between the domains.


    The core now in his oil-covered hands, it also gave off a slight glow. It looked sort of weird, as the core itself seemed to be made of opaque metal.


    "Gregor, come on, stay awake. I want to help you out, but I can''t do it if you keep sleeping like that," Ryan said immediately, "You''re safe with me here, don''t worry."


    The glow slightly faded away, and Ryan thought that he failed, and would have to try again in the future. But right when he was about to put the core away, the light flickered for a few moments, and a system message appeared in front of Ryan''s eyes.


    <hr>


    [You have received a new Quest!]


    [Gregor''s Machinations]


    [The Automaton Spirit Gregor has been in a deep slumber, feeling disconnected from his trade and his very self. Do something to make him remember]


    [Conditions - Construct 20 Mechanical Models (0/20) ]


    [On Success - Gregor wakes up]


    [On Failure - Gregor keeps sleeping]


    <hr>


    Ryan looked at the quest. This must be a result of the damage Gregor procured after Ryan''s father forcefully cut the connection to the system. Neither Gaia nor Maximus had any memories of their past, and it seemed as though Gregor was the same, though he was going through something even worse, or that''s what it seemed like.


    "... Alright. Don''t worry, Gregor, I''ve got you," Ryan said, smiling lightly. He looked at the message, letting out a quiet sigh, "But 20 of these models, huh..? That''s going to take a hot second... Though it will also let me practice my dexterity a bit more. Either way, you don''t need to worry. I''ll try to get to it as soon as possible."


    Gregor''s light already faded again, and Ryan quickly placed the core into the domain. He still had five more of these models, but with this quest, he had to get fifteen more...


    "Holy shit, I''m so damn glad Runar is rich," with a wry smile, Ryan grabbed the oil-covered hand towel next to him, trying to wipe his hands a bit before using his computer to order a few more models from the site that he got these from. Again, they weren''t really his style, so he probably wouldn''t display them, but they were still quite fun to build. It was a nice change of pace compared to the models that he usually put together. Maybe it was because his dexterity had risen so much, but most regular models were a little bit boring to build now. They were really too easy. Not that they weren''t still fun to build and cool to look at, though.


    "Maybe I should look into other models to build..." he said to himself. Maybe there were some interesting brands he hadn''t looked into before. Ryan usually bought from lower-end sites, since he never had the money to buy the really, really expensive models. He preferred getting multiple cheap models over a single expensive model, though that also meant they were often relatively low-quality.


    "Though I barely have any space for the models I already have..." Ryan sighed and got up, making his way to the bathroom to properly clean the motor oil from his hands, when a message popped up in front of his eyes.


    <hr>


    [Gaia has levelled up!]


    [You have levelled up!]


    <hr>


    Ryan felt shivers run through his body for just a moment before his fingers felt lighter and swifter as he was cleaning his hands.


    "Seriously? Level 9?" Ryan grinned lightly. He pulled up his status as he scrubbed the oil away from under his fingernails.


    <hr>


    [Ryan Aglecard]   [Age - 19]


    [Spirit Keeper | Level - 9 (+1)]


    [MP - 41 (+2.5)]


    [Stats]


    -[Dexterity - 1.81(+0.09)]


    -[Intuition - 1.79(+0.09)]


    -[Mana  - 1.02(+0.05)]


    -[Sociability - 1.48(+0.06)]


    -[Spirituality - 0.99(+0.05)]


    [Skills]


    -[Spirit Armament | Level - 5]


    -[Spirit Construction | Level - 9]


    -[Spirit Domain | Level - 6]


    -[Spirit Link | Level - 9]


    <hr>


    "Okay, okay... 0.34 growth, that''s not bad. But really, my spirituality couldn''t grow that one last point?" Ryan said with a wry, annoyed smile. Either way, with how fast his dexterity and intuition were growing, Ryan was incredibly close to getting them to true ''Superhuman'' points. Two or three more level-ups should do the job.


    It was like climbing over that 2 point threshold was like a rite of passage; only if you had stats that reached that point could you really call yourself a true Awakened with your head held high. After all, it meant that you were, at least in that aspect, twice as powerful as the average person.


    "Or was it the median? I always get confused about that... I think it was the median?"


    "What''s the median?" Runar, who was walking past the open bathroom door, peeked his head in curiously, "Are you helping Leon out with his homework again?"


    "Huh? Oh, no. Well, I am tomorrow, but it''s for his Riverian class, not math. He''s actually pretty good at math," Ryan pointed out, almost proud, "But no, Gaia just levelled up, so I did as well, and almost all my points are at ''1'' now, and dexterity and intuition are close to reaching ''2''. Do you remember if the ''1'' was the median of that year, or the average?"


    "Uh..." Runar thought about it for a moment, "It''s median, right? I mean, I think I only had my stats adjusted once since I awakened so I never thought about it much, but median sounds right. Just make sure to check next new year''s when you get the automated update message."


    "Right, like that''s not half a year away, I''ll just look it up in a bit," Ryan scoffed lightly, drying his hands. Every new year''s, every single non-awakened individual in the world is ''measured'', and from that, the value of the stats for the following years is established. ''1'' meant the average of all the world''s individuals, and ''2'' was simple proportionally twice that.


    "Wait..." Ryan realized something, "You said animals can awaken too, right? So are animals counted for the update?"


    Runar stopped for a few moments, "Uh... I don''t think so. I think the actual formula is a bit more complicated than just simple average or median, and there might be some level of separation between species that are too distant from each other. But I really don''t know, I''m not a System Scholar."


    "Okay, fair," Ryan replied, walking out into the hallway, "Before I forget, but I finally got Gregor to wake up for a few moments. He gave me a quest that''s going to lead to him waking up if I build another 20 of those mechanical models I bought."


    "Oh, perfect. Did you already order some more?"


    "Yup."


    "Great, then keep me updated. Let me know if you need anything else."


    "Will do."


    Ryan made his way to the balcony, climbing up the stairs to the rooftop garden where Gaia was gleefully working away. If she could whistle, then her melody would already be filling the air.


    "Hey Gaia, congrats on levelling up again," he said with a smile, squatting down and patting the golem''s back. She looked at him and nodded happily, as Ryan looked at the plant that Gaia was currently caring for.


    It was the golden apple tree sapling, sitting solidly in a small planter. And at this point, though Ryan wasn''t totally sure, he could swear that he could already see some roots peeking out of the gaps between Gaia''s stones, as her body changed according to the state of her garden.


    Looking around, the garden was still quite bare. The plants were still young, and the only thing that you could really see were some of the sprouts that had pushed out through the dirt. But he knew that it wouldn''t take long until this garden was quite beautiful and colourful, covered in the plants that Gaia was caring for.


    There was just one exception to that right now, though; the copper wildflowers that had been planted a while before Gaia even came around had already grown a good bit. Due to the fact they were magical plants in the first place, they grew quite fast, and with Gaia''s care, that had only sped up the past few weeks. The planter was covered in these strands of copper climbing out of the soil, and they would clearly blossom in just a few more days.

 78 - Stat Awakening

    A small gust blew through the room. Papers fluttered around, and the dust that had gathered over the past few days was being moved around here and there. But the windows were closed. So was the door.


    This wind didn''t come from outside, or some kind of fan. It came from a canvas. On that canvas. A stone dragon was flying through the air, carefully flapping its wings, surrounded by softly shifting clouds. It was flying away from a city in the background.


    And in front of this animated painting stood Silvia. Her hands and her clothes were covered in splotches of paint. She had even accidentally smudged it through her hair yesterday, and though she had washed most of it out, there was still a soft shade of blue shining through her already dyed pastel purple hair.


    During the creation of this painting, Silvia had levelled up twice. She was completely locked in, letting the magic flow through her fingers into her brush, clinging onto the paint as it was placed onto the fabric. Somehow, though Silvia had painted things many times in the past, this was different.


    Silvia had always loved painting, and sculpting, and kitting and sewing. Ever since she was a child, since her father had bought Silvia her first paint and brushes, she never put them down again. But somehow this was different. Her paintings in particular had always been an escape for her. A place that she used to dump her pain and sorrows; a way for her to process her emotions in a way that wasn''t self-destructive.


    She was praised for those paintings. By her parents, by her sister, by her teachers. Everyone said that they were amazing, and that she was some sort of prodigy. So, of course, Silvia ha them put out into the world. She had them put into galleries, and made quite a bit of money. All of that money was of course almost completely put into a savings account that she would be able to access in a few years. Technically she could have had it already, but she pushed the access date back until she would be done with university. It was just too much pressure.


    Not that Silvia didn''t use plenty of that money to buy herself some things. Fabrics, toys, games, literally whatever she wanted. She had the money, after all.


    But then, at some point... things dried up. Painting had become a burden. Silvia had grown strong enough to not let her past keep dragging her down every single day of her life. She wasn''t able to get herself to keep painting anymore. At least, she couldn''t draw the sort of things that were expected of her. Somehow, it was always just painting. Even sketching or drawing digitally never felt the same to her, not to mention all her other projects. But there was something about painting that just used to make Silvia feel an intense, visceral pressure that was hard to put into words.


    But this? It was... different. It wasn''t art born from trauma in the same way that her old paintings were. It wasn''t a place where she dumped her pain or fears. She was using a sort of hope that she hadn''t felt in a while.


    Silvia had a wonderful girlfriend, and two best friends that she connected with more and faster than she ever expected. Plus, she was now working with, or rather for, a group that was causing actual positive changes in this world. Not to mention awakening into a power that truly allowed her to live her passions. The fact she awakened as a type of artist somehow gave her validity.


    What part of all this exactly allowed the spark to come back to her wasn''t really clear, but Silvia was glad. She was so, so glad.


    Carefully, Silvia picked up the canvas, carrying it downstairs to the living room. The sound of the wind whistled through the stairway together with the soft flapping of the Forge Elemental''s wings as it flew through the skies. Silvia could hear her parents talking to each other downstairs, watching some TV show together, lounging on the couch.


    But when they noticed that Silvia was the one approaching, they quickly turned the TV off; after all, they hadn''t really seen their daughter for the past few days. She had been completely engrossed in her process in a way that they had never really seen before.


    "Honey! Are you alright? Are you done with that painting?" Silvia''s mother, Athina, quickly asked, not even looking at the painting itself.


    Silvia slowly shrugged, "Sort of. The paint still needs to dry, and then I need to put on a layer of varnish for it to be completely finished. But I''m done painting for now."


    Slowly, Athina looked at the painting itself. Her husband, Dimos, was already staring at it right now. This was something that neither of them had really seen before. A painting that was moving on its own in this way; letting out wind and even producing sound, no matter how faint either was. That was something neither of them expected, and they especially didn''t realize that something like this could be made by their daughter.


    "Silvia, this is... I don''t even..." Dimos muttered, unable to move his eyes away from the canvas.


    Both of Silvia''s parents were staring to intensely to the point where she didn''t even know what to say anymore. If anything, she felt a little awkward, almost exposed, at the painting being stared at like this.


    "Isn''t there something like this? In this super famous museum in Gardia?" Athina asked, and slowly, Silvia nodded her head.


    "Yeah, it''s the ''Advent of the Cosmos''. The one that''s basically an animated meteor shower," she responded, "I looked into it and apparently the one that painted it was also a Soulspark Artist. Of course, Soulspark Artists aren''t the only ones that can make paintings that move, or even ones that make sound or produce wind like this. The paintings created by Soulspark Artists are said to produce the emotion placed into the painting within the person that looks at them."


    "Really? Is that why I feel so... excited?" Dimos asked, but Silvia just chuckled.


    "Maybe. But it depends on what you''re excited about. I just wanted it to show freedom, feeling unbound, and being yourself. If it''s that kind of excitement, then yeah, that might be why."


    Athina and Dimos looked at each other for a few moments, and then turned back to their daughter. Dimos asked, "Is this something that you want to display somewhere? It''s very different from your usual paintings, but I''m sure you could get it a spot in a gallery."Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Silvia thought about it for a few moments, but she didn''t know how to answer it. Of course, she felt excited about the idea of showing this to people. But at the same time, she didn''t really feel a need to. She was content just having created it, and even if nobody else ever saw it, she would be happy. Maybe getting others to see this would make her even happier, but she felt no need for it.


    There was also another part to this though. The motive of the painting was the Forge Elemental, and she hadn''t asked for permission before drawing it like this. So, even if she didn''t feel the pressure to show this to people, it was better to ask Runar about it beforehand. Just in case.


    "I''m going to bring this back upstairs to let it finish drying," Silvia said, quickly walking back up the stairs to her room. She placed the canvas onto the easel, stopping for a moment to feel the painting''s wind on her skin.


    "... I made that."


    A smile on her face, Silvia kept staring at the painting. She felt simply invigorated by it. And then, though she didn''t know what exactly drew her to it, Silvia approached her window, taking a slight peek outside. There was a woman standing on the sidewalk next to the steps leading up to the front door.


    Quickly, her smile disappeared. But for once, she didn''t feel that sense of hopelessness that she usually felt when looking at that woman. Silvia turned around, rushing out her room as if her very own painting was giving her a push on the back.


    She walked down to the ground floor, practically tearing the door open. The woman at the bottom of the steps looked at Silvia startled, as the young elf looked at the woman that gave birth to her.


    "Fine. I''ll listen to what you have to say."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Push! Come on, one last push! You got this!" Yanna''s booming voice sounded out, piercing clean through Ryan''s ears. He was currently in the university''s Awakened gym, doing a deadlift that broke his personal best. Or at least, he was trying to. His whole body was screaming in resistance of lifting something this heavy. but he still had to do it. It was part of making his Strength stat awaken.


    Ryan pushed through, trying his best to keep breathing as he tried to straighten his back. When he finally did, he had to just hold onto the bar for a little bit longer. It felt like his arms were about to be torn off, but he just had to do it.


    He had made such incredible process over the past few weeks, much more than Yanna had ever expected him to. He was growing much, much faster than anyone else that she had seen try to awaken their stats. Then again, Ryan also seemed incredibly motivated to do this, and had been coming here to work out every single morning for a few hours, and was eating and drinking all the supplements Yanna could think of, so maybe it made sense to some degree.


    "Come on, alright! Five, four, three, two, one, you can drop it!" Yanna exclaimed, waiting for Ryan to let go of the barbell. But instead, he just kept standing there. His pained expression was lifted in an instant. Of course, Ryan''s body was still shaking, but it was like he consciously forgot about how tough it was to hold onto the barbell.


    "There''s no way, right..?" the minotaur muttered. Only one real explanation popped into her head, though it was one of the most nonsensical ones, "You can''t have awakened your strength stat yet... have you?"


    A broad grin formed on Ryan''s face as he let go of the barbell. It slammed into the ground, as Ryan looked at his friend with an excited, almost smug, smile.


    "Oh really, I couldn''t have?" he asked, turning back toward the system window in front of him.


    <hr>


    [Due to adequate growth and effort, you have unlocked the -Strength- Stat]


    <hr>


    Immediately, Ryan opened his status window, quickly looking for it. At the bottom of the ''stats'' section, separated from the rest, a new line had popped up.


    <hr>


    -[Strength - 1.35 (New!)]


    <hr>


    Ryan let out a laugh of excitement. Of course, 1.35 wasn''t at any totally supernatural level yet; there were actually plenty of people that awakened with strength stats higher than that just because they''ve been actively working out for a while. But awakening a bonus stat was about showing effort deserving of that stat. Maybe it was good that Ryan had never really worked out much before because he felt fine with where he was. He heard that people like bodybuilders that awakened into a class without the strength stat innately applied had a much, much harder time to get it.


    "Alright, I guess now it''s time to continue trying for agility, stamina, and physicality," Ryan said, waving his status window away. As the message disappeared, though, he just saw Yanna''s stunned expression peek out from behind it.


    "How... You seriously awakened your strength stat already? It''s been just a couple of weeks, so how..?" Yanna asked, staring at Ryan with absolute confusion written on her face.


    Of course, Ryan knew why she was so confused. After all, the only reason Ryan was able to awaken the stat so quickly was because Tiar boosted his growth, but that wasn''t something he could just tell her. So, instead, he used another excuse that he had thought of beforehand.


    "Well... I''m not entirely sure, but I think it''s possible that the Spirits I''ve formed contracts with affect me somehow. So maybe Maximus'' physical stats helped me out a bit," Ryan suggested, and Yanna let out a loud groan.


    "Seriously? What kind of a cheat is this unique class of yours? You get stronger faster just because of your spirits?"


    "That''s the best guess I have," Ryan replied awkwardly, trying to come up with an explanation, "I mean, you see it when I use my skills, right? My mana is coloured based on Gaia or Maximus, depending on which of them I''m interacting with at that moment. My mana is usually pretty colourless, so that might be part of it. I''ve thought that was weird for a while anyway."


    Though, Ryan wasn''t actually lying about that last part. His mana was undeniably ''weird''. Innately, his mana didn''t have any qualities. It was colourless, and was basically in its ''basic'' state. At first, Ryan thought that was just a quality a Spirit Keeper''s mana took on when they awakened, but that didn''t seem to be the case at all. According to Runar, the mana of Ryan''s father was recorded as a dark, brownish green. It was sharp and swift, like a flower''s thorns being pushed through the air by a storm.


    Well, it didn''t matter much to Ryan in the end, but it was still true that he found it a tiny bit weird. But for now, that wasn''t important. After all, Ryan''s workout wasn''t over yet. He still had to do cardio.


    Since he awakened his strength stat already, he was sure that the other physical stats weren''t all too far away either. As a clearly jealous Yanna set up her treadmill properly, Ryan turned away and held his hand in front of his mouth, whispering to Tiar.


    "Good job, and thanks for the help so far. Let''s keep at it, alright bud?" he said, already feeling the symbiote''s pattern wriggle happily on his skin.


    With that, Ryan got onto his treadmill as well, starting the cardio part of his workout. For now, Ryan just had to keep going at it. And sure, he was excited to have awakened his strength stat, but that didn''t mean that he was suddenly stronger than he was a moment ago. It just meant that the system would give a certain amount of growth correction to him. Plus, from now on, he would not grow weaker. That was the other benefit of awakening. Even if you never grew stronger, you would never grow weaker than you were before.


    So even if Ryan never did any more strength training in the future, his stat would not ever drop below 1.35. For now, that also meant he could relax on strength training and just focus more of his time on other stats without needing to be concerned he would lose all his progress.


    "Alright, let''s do this."

 79 - Reaching Out

    Ryan groaned loudly, stretching his fingers. They were feeling a bit tense after building all of these models all day. Since Maximus had reached level 10, and his growth would slow down considerably with that, and that meant that it was probably a bit harder for Ryan to level up as well. He was going to still keep at it in the dungeon, since collecting points for the gift shop wasn''t a bad idea either, but once Ryan got the quest from Gregor, that became a secondary concern.


    Not only would it be much faster for Ryan to level up by completing this quest, then build Gregor''s body, and then help Gregor level up for a while, but it just felt like the right thing to do in general. Since this quest would help Gregor wake up, completing it as quickly as possible was the obvious choice. Plus, since Gregor was an Artillerist, he would be able to help out in combat and make collecting points much faster.


    So, Ryan had built models of cars, tanks, planes, and was currently working on a train engine. Of course, he had gotten a lot more used to these now, and his intuition was doing a pretty good job at guiding him along the way, helping him figure out the parts that he didn''t really understand. Even so, these models were a lot more annoying than the plastic models he was used to. His skin got pinched between metal bits, he was covered in grease, and he even cut himself on a sharp edge earlier.


    Ryan clicked the last pieces into place, and quickly tried turning the train engine on. It rumbled quietly, and at the same time, some system messages appeared in front of Ryan''s eyes.


    <hr>


    [You have completed the Quest -Gregor''s Machinations-]


    [Gregor has recovered his sense of self and has awoken]


    <hr>


    Without a moment''s hesitation, Ryan pulled Gregor''s spirit core out of the space between the domains, holding the stone between his fingers. It was giving off a soft glow now, and Ryan could tell that the spirit was actually there.


    "Gregor, I don''t know if you have a grasp of the situation here, but please. I''m here to help you, so-" Before Ryan was even able to finish his short speech that he had prepared in advance for this moment, some more messages appeared in front of his eyes.


    <hr>


    [You have become the keeper of the Artillerist Spirit Gregor]


    [The Temporary Domain has become a true Domain]


    [The -Spirit Domain- skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    At that moment, a new space formed inside of Ryan''s mind. It was just as large as Maximus and Gaia''s domains. Filled with old tools and gadgets, steel and brass and copper, a small workshop appeared. Dust was floating through the air, and a sense that Ryan already had with the other two domains was just strengthened.


    Particularly with Maximus'' domain, he felt like there was more to this space than it just being something that fit the knight''s personality. Of course, he wasn''t particularly indulgent, and was diligent in his training, but that small, bare hut and training area didn''t seem to fit him quite perfectly. Rather than that, it seemed to have just been the reality of things.


    It seemed like the domains were snapshots of spaces that the spirits were connected to, rather than simply accommodating them. That was extremely obvious with Gregor''s domain. It truly felt like a space that had been in use, and just had to be left at a moment''s notice.


    "Thanks for trusting me, Gregor," Ryan said with a smile, running his fingers over the core for a few moments before putting it down on his desk. He picked up the model train and placed it onto the ground with the others, before holding his hand out toward the empty area on his desk. From his fingertips, metal tubes, or pipes, made of mana flowed out from his skin. They came together, forming a cardboard box. Though, it was a little different to Gaia and Maximus'' boxes; it looked more like a mixture of the ones Ryan was used to and the boxes that these mechanical models came in.


    As he peaked inside, instead of just the frames that he was expecting, he saw a mixture of both types of models as well. There were frames holding wooden plates that were most likely Gregor''s outer shell, or rather, his ''skin''. But there were also tiny screws, cogs, pipes, and any of the other parts that Ryan had gotten somewhat used to now. There were even bottles containing oil.


    Gregor was a robot; an automaton. He was made mostly of metal, at least his interior. Somehow, though, he was covered in wood as outer plating. Different to Maximus, who was represented just with his armour, it seemed like Gregor would still need to be built up from the bottom using the same method that the mechanical models needed to be built.


    "Well, alright, let''s get this started," Ryan said, quickly pulling everything out of the cardboard box. Just as before, the box quickly fell apart into mana again, and Ryan could get started with the process of building Gregor''s body.


    At this point, he should be able to finish this in just two or three activations of the Spirit Construction skill.


    With the first activation of the skill, Ryan started quickly taking the metal parts from the frames, already pressing some together that seemed rather obvious. Rather, he was able to get all the outer parts completely ready, as far as they could be put together. There would probably be some larger gaps between each of the wooden plates, showing the mechanical interior beyond them, so those plates would be attached to things that Ryan had yet to build.


    When it came to those internal pieces, though, Ryan had a bit of a tougher time. For the other model kits, he at least had some instructional manuals to work with, or he could cross-reference actual cars or planes. But he couldn''t do that with Gregor.


    "Or... can I?" Ryan muttered, quickly pulling out his phone and dialling Modak''s number. The call connected quickly.


    "''Sup?" the orc said, trying to suppress a groan. Ryan didn''t know what he was dealing with, but he did know that Modak was spending a lot of time at the magic tower. He was getting paid for this work, after all, and on top of this being a passion project for him, it made sense.


    "I don''t want to drag you away from your work or anything, but I told you about Gregor, right?"


    "Uh, yeah, you did. Is something up with him?" Modak asked, a bit confused, but Ryan quickly explained.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Okay, so, I finished the quest he gave me and became his proper keeper, and now I''m building his model. But instead of being like Maximus or Gaia, he''s like those mechanical models I was putting together for his quest," he pointed out, "But since the spirits'' kits don''t come with instructions, I''m kind of having a tough time. Do you think you can come over and help out?"


    The other side of the phone call was quiet for a little while, but soon, Modak responded, "I''m not sure if today is going to work out, man, I''m sorry. I''ve got a ton of tests scheduled here, and I''m getting help from a researcher that doesn''t really have a ton of time, so..."


    "Oh, no, that''s fine! I can probably figure it out somehow alone, I just figured it''d be faster if I got your help."


    "Yeah... I''m sorry about that. If it can''t wait until tomorrow, try calling someone from the robotics club. One of them might be able to help out," Modak suggested, and Ryan thought about it for a while.


    "Hm... I guess so. I guess I''ll give Richie a call or something."


    "Ah, sure, but he''s apparently started working at his job already, so I don''t know if he''ll have time. It''s still worth a try, though."


    Ryan thought about it for a moment and then inwardly sighed, "Yeah, we''ll see. Otherwise I just gotta figure something else out."


    "There''s also Vanda. I know you''re probably feeling a bit iffy about her still, but she does know her stuff."


    "... I''ll call Richie and then we''ll see."


    "Right, good idea," the orc was clearly distracted as he responded, "Sorry, I''ve got to go. I''ll drop by tomorrow if things go well on my end today. Good luck!"


    "Thanks, you too! Tell me about how-"


    Before Ryan could finish his sentence, Modak had already hung up. It stung a little, though it was obvious that Modak was really just busy, so Ryan tried not to take it to heart. Instead, he just scrolled through his contact list and decided to call Richie right away.


    The phone rang a few times, and then, the gnome answered, "Richard Snappertie. Yes?"


    "Yo, Richie, it''s Ryan. I just-"


    "Please call me Richard. What can I do for you, Ryan?" the gnome on the other side of the phone pointed out. Taken a bit aback by his tone, Ryan hesitated for a few moments. But he also knew how stressful a fulltime job could be, so he tried not to think about it too much, even if he had a weird feeling about this.


    "Right, sorry. Richard. Anyway, I''ve contracted another spirit, and I told you about how I built Maximus, right? So, this one is basically a robot, and I don''t really get how to put all the parts together, so I was wondering if you''d want to come over and help me out a bit," Ryan quickly explained, hoping that Richard wasn''t all too stressed. Though, he wasn''t particularly hopeful.


    Richard let out a long, deep sigh, "I''m sorry, but I don''t have time to play around with you right now. Would that be all?"


    "Huh?"


    Confused, Ryan stared at his phone. What was Richard''s deal all of a sudden? Ryan sat up straight, and quickly responded, "I''m not playing around here, but you know your stuff so I figured-"


    Once again, Ryan was cut off by the sound of a call disconnecting.


    "What the fuck?" he let out, his finger hovering over the ''redial'' button. But really, his instincts were telling him not to anymore. Something was off about Richard just now, he just felt... so different. Of course, Ryan didn''t know him super well, and it had been a while since they spoke, but he still figured they were on better terms. Then again, it wasn''t as though Ryan was never rude to people just because he was in a bad mood... so he excused it for now.


    "I guess I''ll have to just rely on my intuition..." Ryan sighed, as he was just about to put his phone away. He hesitated for a little bit, staring at the pile of parts in front of him. And then, he just let out a loud groan, deciding to follow Modak''s advice.


    It took a few moments to connect, but soon, the voice of a young woman sounded out on the other side, "Uh, hey? Ryan, everything okay?" Vanda asked hesitantly.


    Similarly, Ryan wasn''t sure what to say, but it was too late now, "Vanda, uh, sorry for calling out of nowhere. And feel totally free to turn me down, but I was wondering if you could do me a favour."


    "... Depends on the favour, I guess?" the hobgoblin replied, clearly confused.


    "So... I explained how my class and skills work, right? Like, how I build the spirits'' bodies and stuff. I just contracted with one whose body is basically like a robot, and I''m struggling a little. Would you have time to come over today and help me out a bit?"


    Vanda was silent for a while, and Ryan honestly expected he was about to hear the sound of another call disconnecting, but then he instead heard some rather surprising words.


    "... Sure, I guess? I don''t have anything to do right now. Uh, should I come to your place, then?"


    A bit taken aback, Ryan scrambled to gather the words and reply, "Yeah, that would be great! Just text me your address, I''ll send a car for you."


    "You''ll send a car for me? What are you, rich?" Vanda scoffed, and Ryan stayed silent for a few moments, before the stunned hobgoblin continued, "Wait, are you rich?"


    "Well... I''m not... not rich? It''s complicated, but I''ll just send someone to pick you up. Oh, but don''t be surprised, the driver is deaf and mute, so don''t be concerned when she doesn''t respond to you."


    "... Okay? I''ll send you my address in a bit. So... see you later?"


    "Sure, great! See you later!" Ryan responded, hanging up. He already let out a loud groan, burying his face in his hands because of how awkward that conversation was. But still, he quickly texted Yamada, asking her if she could pick someone up, and then forwarded the address that Vanda just texted her, and Yamada quickly replied that she would head out immediately.


    Taking a deep breath, Ryan got up from his chair. He pulled Gregor''s core into his domain for now, so that he wouldn''t just be laying on the desk all alone, and then walked out of his room to get himself something to eat.


    Though, as he was eating some leftovers, Runar came in through the door leading down to the caf¨¦, quickly looking for Ryan, "So, why did you just send out Yamada to pick up a friend of yours?"


    "I mean... I wouldn''t call Vanda a friend, necessarily..."


    "Vanda? The girl that was tricked to use Gaia''s core fragment for her robot thingy?"


    "Yup."


    "So why are you trying to hang out with her? Are you two a thing or something?" Runar asked, and Ryan raised his brows and immediately shook his head.


    "What? No, I don''t really care about dating or whatever, like, in general," with a long sigh, Ryan rubbed the bridge of his nose. He didn''t particularly feel like having that conversation right now, "I completed Gregor''s quest earlier and became his keeper, but his model is more like the mechanical ones that I bought. So super detailed and pretty ''realistic'', all things considered. But since I don''t really understand how a robot''s body works, and because Modak is busy at the tower, I called Vanda for help."


    Runar looked at Ryan for a few moments, and then shrugged, "Okay, well... just say that next time."


    "Yeah, sorry about that."


    "So you''ve already got another spirit with you, huh? I thought you''d become Jester''s keeper first," Runar pointed out.


    "Tell me about it... I feel like he just wants me to get beaten up or something," running his hand through his hair annoyed, Ryan simply groaned.


    "Hm, maybe. Some spirits have pretty unique tastes."


    "... Runar, I would prefer not to get beaten up."


    "We''ll figure something out," Runar replied, turning around to get back to the caf¨¦. Though, he stopped before he left the kitchen, "Oh, and by the way, I''d wash my hands before touching my hair and face after working on those models."


    Ryan narrowed his eyes and picked up his phone. He pulled up his camera, and immediately saw his face covered in some oil that was still stuck to his hands.


    "... Fuck."

 80 - Robotic Assistance

    With still wet hair, from just taking a quick shower to get rid of all the oil that was covering in extremely random places, Ryan walked up to the flat''s front door, opening it up. At the bottom of the steps in front of him, Vanda started walking up the stairs.


    "Yo, thanks for coming so quickly," Ryan said, but the hobgoblin just stared up at him almost hesitantly.


    "Yeah... no worries... Honestly, I thought you were just gonna send me a cab or something, but you really have your own private driver?" she asked, reaching the top of the steps.


    "She''s not really a driver, she''s my uncle''s personal assistant, basically. And my uncle is trying to support me in any way when it comes to my class, so he was fine with me sending Yamada to pick you up."


    "Ah... your uncle that''s running a small caf¨¦ can afford a personal assistant?"


    "It''s a long story," Ryan responded, making way for Vanda to step into the flat. The two of them were looking at each other a bit awkwardly, not really sure what to do. The thing that Ryan usually defaulted to was just hugging someone, but that was mostly when he was on at least ''okay'' terms with someone. And while it wasn''t like he was on ''bad'' terms with Vanda, they weren''t really friends either. Considering what happened with Gaia, it was a pretty complicated situation.


    In the end, they seemed to mutually, and without words, decide to just move on and get to Ryan''s bedroom. He guided her inside, quickly pulling up his chair for Vanda to sit on while grabbing the small stool at the side of the desk for himself.


    As Vanda sat down, her eyes landed on Maximus, who was reading something on the small monitor set up at the side of the desk. Actually, the monitor was much, much smaller than what you would usually see here, specifically made for extremely small species who simply lived in smaller spaces and needed the furniture to match to some degree to be useful. Ryan had set this up so that Maximus didn''t have to strain his neck too much when looking around the screen. Same with the mouse that he was using, and Ryan even got a smaller keyboard and prepared a more comfortable seat for him. Everything was still a bit too large for Maximus, but it was much better than before.


    "That''s the... spirit that you were using to fight during the Power Duels, right?" Vanda asked. Maximus slowly turned his head toward her, greeting her with a nod, before focusing back on his web-comic.


    Ryan raised a brow, "I''m just saying, but I didn''t ''use'' Maximus. We both wanted to participate in the duels, so we did. If Maximus didn''t want to do it, we wouldn''t have done it. He''s not a tool," Ryan pointed out. Vanda nodded in a panic.


    "R-Right! Sorry, I didn''t mean it like that..."


    "... No worries. But yeah, that''s him. He''s managed to settle in a bit more around here since then. He really likes fantasy webnovels and webtoons, apparently."


    "So you just summon him so he can do that? Doesn''t that use up a ton of mana or something?"


    Ryan quickly shook his head, "Summoning them doesn''t take any mana at all, actually. My class is technically a ''summoner'' type, but it works a lot different. When my class awakened, I basically became something like a home for them. They''re always with me, and are free to come and go whenever. Gaia is upstairs in the garden right now, actually."


    Hearing then name, Vanda flinched. Ryan knew why, of course. While officially, the story was that some ''experimental power source'' went out of control, though even that story had been suppressed as much as possible to the point where it wasn''t even a rumour around uni, Vanda knew that it wasn''t actually that. Ryan had briefly mentioned that it was a spirit core''s fragment, and he even said Gaia''s name in relation to that fragment around her back then, so she was obviously able to put everything together.


    "She doesn''t hold any grudges, don''t worry. She''s ridiculously kind," he explained, and Vanda let out a relieved sigh.


    "So everything worked out? I don''t know how that whole thing works for your class, but you were able to summon her with that ''fragment'' thing? Again, I''m really sorry about that, by the way, I really didn''t know that-"


    "I know. Don''t worry, it''s not your fault," Ryan replied, smiling lightly. Though, for a while, the two grew silent. It was starting to get a bit awkward as they were just sitting there. Vanda was looking around the room, glancing at the dozens of plastic models set up all over the place, as well as the model cars, planes, and train sitting on the ground in the corner of the room. As if trying to break the silence, she slowly stuttered something out.


    "You... you really like building models, huh?"


    Ryan scoffed, nodding, "You can say that, yeah. It''s been my hobby since I was old enough for my mom to trust me not to accidentally swallow the pieces."


    "Fair enough," Vanda laughed, looking over at the desk, "And the one that you''re building now is a robot?"


    "Yup, basically," Ryan replied, "Though it looks like it''s a bit different to the ones you''re used to. A lot more... steampunk. Cogs and pipes, rather than wires and computer chips."


    Curiously, Vanda leaned over the pieces, "I see... Do you have any idea at all where the pieces go?"


    "Yeah, so, one of my stats is ''Intuition'', and it works surprisingly well for me apparently, I don''t know why... anyway, I was able to figure out the sort of rough areas of each part, like splitting it up into the different limbs and stuff. Here are the legs, here the arms, these parts belong to the head, and then the rest should be the torso."


    The hobgoblin cupped her chin as she took a quick look. She quickly picked out some of the parts, "I think these should be the joints. Though they look more like heavy-duty hinges. I guess that''s what joints are, I guess?" Vanda muttered, and Ryan raised his brow as he watched the girl continue sorting through the parts a bit more, "This seems to be a miniature pneumatic piston... and this part should be something like a shock absorber, but... yeah, look here, it''s split in two. Did you do something to break it?"


    "Oh, nah. Some of the parts are probably split up into smaller parts."


    "...What?"


    "Don''t look at me like that, I didn''t make the models. Complain to the System Administrator or something."Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Yeah, yeah, fine... But alright, in that case, that''s a bit more annoying... Do we need to... I don''t know, weld them?"


    Ryan shook his head, "I''ve got a skill that can put them together properly. It''s off cooldown now, but I figured I should wait for your input before using it again so I don''t waste it too much."


    "Hm... got it," Vanda replied, carefully starting to sort through the pieces, trying to explain everything as well as she could understand it herself. Ryan didn''t get everything she was saying, but he picked up on the important parts, at least. And at some point, Vanda had properly sorted through all the pieces for one of the legs. The hobgoblin stretched a bit, "Alright, this was the other leg, right? I''ll do this one now as well."


    "No, that''s fine. Get started on the arms, I''ll get to putting the legs together already. Now that I know the structure one of the legs should have, I can figure the other one out easily enough," Ryan pointed out. He cracked his knuckles with a slight grin on his face. Vanda''s eyes soon landed on the red, wriggling strands on Ryan''s hand. They looked like the red tattoo dye was trying to flood out from underneath his sweater.


    "If you''re sure, then alright," Vanda responded, taking a closer look at the parts for the arms as Ryan had suggested. But as she started sorting through the pieces, she quickly got distracted. Ryan was picking up the small, individual pieces and was pressing them together at a speed that looked like someone was watching a video and doubled the playback speed. And it wasn''t just the pieces that were being pressed together, but even the screws and nuts that had to be put into place; the oil that needed to be applied to the right places on the joints and hinges.


    "Wow..." the hobgoblin muttered, surprised. Ryan chuckled lightly.


    "Impressed, huh?"


    "What? Oh, sorry, I didn''t mean to stare..."


    "No, no, don''t worry. It''s all good," Ryan shook his head immediately, as he pressed the individual parts of the foot onto the lower end of the shin, starting to build the thigh onto it all next, "I get shocked whenever I see this as well. My dexterity is above 1.8 by now."


    "Seriously? Already?" Vanda asked, surprised. While she didn''t know a ton about Awakened, she knew that a stat like that wasn''t something you usually reached this fast after awakening.


    "Yup. I mean, I''m level 9 already, so that''s why. I should reach level 10 on friday if everything works out. As I said, my uncle is supporting me a ton in this process.


    "Huh..." Vanda responded quietly, "Even so, 1.8 is super impressive. Is it even possible to get that without awakening?"


    Ryan thought about it for a few moments, but wasn''t able to come up with any examples off the top of his head, "There must have been a few people across history that awakened with pretty high stats... 1.8 is pretty close to that ''superhuman'' level, but I think it''s still possible. Just, like... not very easy, you know?"


    "Well, duh. Obviously it''s not easy," Vanda sighed, "But still, it''s pretty insane to see. Plus, you''re barely even looking at it... Is that also part of your insane dexterity?"


    Ryan shook his head, "No, that part is mostly my intuition. Now that I know what to do with each piece, it''s pretty easy to put together. Plus, I just kind of instinctively know what part I''m holding when I pick it up, and I also instinctively know where the next part that I''m looking for is, so... yeah."


    "Wow, that''s... kind of bullshit, what the hell?" Vanda laughed, "Awakening really just pushes you ahead of us ''regular folk'', huh?"


    Ryan was almost stunned by what Vanda was saying. He couldn''t really say anything to deny that, since it was true that as an Awakener, your life would improve considerably. Whether it was through the increased physical or mental abilities, or because of the societal treatment of Awakeners; this was something that changed your life in a myriad of ways if you took advantage of it properly.


    Though Ryan felt like the atmosphere had become a bit lighter, since him and Vanda had been speaking more casually, that changed again very quickly.


    "You know..." he started, "I''m really, really sorry about destroying Energiser. If I could have, I would have tried to save him, but that really wasn''t possible anymore."


    Vanda looked at Ryan confused, raising her brow, "Where the hell did that come from?"


    "I just figured I should say it. Like, I know that making the showcase thing work properly was important to you. I heard it was pushed back a bit now, but I doubt you''d be able to make a completely new one until then... right?"


    "Well," Vanda let out, looking back down at the desk. She continued to sort through the pieces as she explained, "Of course I was upset about what happened. But it wasn''t like I was angry at you or anything, that would be insane. I''m more mad at that fucking-"


    Vanda stopped suddenly, as she tried to speak without sound coming from her mouth. She wanted to say the name of the person that had given her Gaia''s fragment. Of course, Ryan now knew that it was Christopher. But he couldn''t really just say that. Ryan didn''t know what was part of the contract that Vanda really entered, and what sort of stipulations Christopher snuck into that whole thing. He didn''t want to risk putting Vanda into any danger or drag her into this any more.


    With a frustrated groan, Vanda continued, "I''m mad at that guy. He''s the one that completely fucked everything up. And really, it wouldn''t have actually been that much work to build Energizer again. I had all the notes and blueprints prepared already, but I just wouldn''t have been able to do it until the next day."


    "Right..."


    "Plus, Modak actually suggested some stuff to me to help improve Energiser''s design. He''s much, much more efficient now, so I can actually get away with using a regular mana battery," Vanda pointed out smugly, "I wanted to show it to Modak, but he''s been pretty busy recently, huh?"


    "Hah, you can say that again," Ryan scoffed, "With him working at the magic tower now, plus him and Yanna finally dating, he barely has time to hang out lately."


    Vanda immediately froze up, immediately turning her head toward Ryan, "Excuse me?"


    "Hm?"


    "What did you just say?"


    "About him and Yanna dating?" Ryan asked with a raised brow, "I mean, it''s not that big of a shock. Yeah, it was surprising that it ended up happening so quickly. We all thought it would have happened much-"


    "Oh gods, who gives a shit about that?" with a groan, Vanda rubbed the bridge of her nose, "I meant the ''Magic Tower'' bit!"


    Ryan looked at the hobgoblin surprised. It wasn''t really a secret. Rather, Modak said he would take full advantage of this in the future. Whether he got to keep working in the magic tower after graduation or not, he would plaster ''Magic Tower Research Team Leader'' on literally every single application and project he worked on in the future. As he should. But Modak probably just didn''t get to tell everyone around him about it yet. It was pretty sudden, after all.


    "Modak was scouted by the Magic Tower''s mistress and is working on a project now," Ryan explained, "I don''t know how much I can tell you about that, so just ask him yourself the next time you see him."


    Vanda''s arms slipped from the table, hanging down the sides of her body, "... He''s working at the Magic Tower? At 18? After our first semester at university? And he was scouted by the Mistress? Seriously?"


    "Yeah... Modak is pretty awesome, isn''t he?" Ryan pointed out, as if he was bragging about his best friend. Though, it wasn''t just like that; he was actively bragging about Modak right now, "But it''s just a part time position."


    "S-So... he''s working as some research assistant? Or is doing an internship there?" Vanda asked, still confused, but Ryan quickly shook his head.


    "No, actually. He''s the team leader and is researching his own project at the tower."


    Vanda stared at him with narrowed eyes, "So, you awakened with a unique class, and Modak is a prodigy working at the magic tower... Is Silvia the only normal one in your trio?"


    Ryan stayed silent, unsure how much he should share. Though, then again, he was pretty curious about what Vanda''s reaction would be, and he couldn''t hold back his grin as he started to speak, "Well, actually..."

 81 - Gregor

    Ryan pushed the oiled-up ball joint into place, and then used this to connect the right thigh with the right shin. As he did, he glanced over at the hobgoblin sitting next to him.


    "Oh come on, is that really something to pout about?" Ryan asked with a laugh, but Vanda just glared over at him.


    "I''m not pouting, I''m just... trying to mentally catch up to everything," she pointed out, "Like, what the hell are you three? A unique class, a prodigal magic engineer, and a famous fucking awakened artist? Seriously?"


    "I mean... she''s not famous for being an awakened artist yet."


    "Right... but she''s already a famous artist without even having awakened at that point, so- You know what? Let''s just... move on. This is making me feel kinda crappy..." Vanda groaned, scratching the fur on her nose nervously.


    Ryan raised his brow, feeling that something was a little off, "Is... everything going alright for you?"


    Vanda looked over at him hesitantly, and Ryan quickly realized that it might be overstepping some bounds between them. It wasn''t as though they were ''friends''. They were on good terms, obviously, but maybe talking about this kind of thing was still a bit too much right now. But to Ryan''s surprise, Vanda responded anyway.


    "Not really, I guess. Like, yeah, Energiser 2.0 is well on his way of being fully finished, tested, and fine-tuned, but I don''t even know if this is going to be useful for anything in the end. Richie basically fully disappeared from the club, so nobody knows if the showcase is actually happening again?"


    Confused, Ryan''s hands stopped moving, which they hadn''t at all until now, "What do you mean, he disappeared?"


    "Well, he hasn''t come back at all. He started his job and then dipped," Vanda explained, "Though, I guess that''s not totally true... He did come by once sometime last week, but he seemed so... greasy? I don''t know, like... that kind of ''Riverian Psycho'', slicked-back-hair, finance-bro type?"


    "... Seriously? Richie?"


    "Right? He so didn''t seem like the type. But I guess he just gets along really well with people at his new job. Plus, it sounded like he''s-" Vanda started, but she soon stopped. Though, clearly against her will. She just wasn''t able to continue talking along the train of thought she wanted to, and Ryan widened his eyes confused. Though somehow, it seemed like Vanda herself hadn''t noticed that she mentally drifted off.


    "Excuse me? Richie''s involved with- Wait, do you know what company he started working for?"


    Vanda was taken aback, looking up at Ryan, "Uh... it was Bluesky Industries, I think?"


    Closing his eyes, suppressing a groan, Ryan started tapping his foot on the ground. In itself, there wasn''t anything wrong with that. It wasn''t as though Bluesky was an ''evil'' company through and through. There were normal employees and normal projects that were completely unrelated to the White Shadow Society. So just because Richie was working for Bluesky, that didn''t mean that he was involved in anything sketchy.


    But Ryan''s gut was telling him something different. Especially after that brief call with Richie earlier, he felt like there was something wrong. Of course, him and Richie weren''t close or anything, so it wasn''t as though Ryan had an obligation to help him out or stop him from making mistakes like that, but it still felt off. Really, really off.


    "Is everything okay?" Vanda asked, not sure what was going on with Ryan all of a sudden. He just slowly nodded his head.


    "Yeah, sorry... I just don''t really like Bluesky all that much. They got really, really annoying when I awakened and sent this weirdo after me to try and buy my class..." Ryan explained with a long sigh, "I still get daily letters from them, visits at least every other day, and phone calls from random numbers that I''ve blocked a dozen times already."


    "Oh, gods... That sucks."


    Ryan nodded his head and laughed, "Yeah, you could say that."


    "But... I''m sure Richie isn''t doing that kind of stuff. I mean, he''s a Technomancer, so I''d be a little shocked if that''s what they used him for," Vanda pointed out, and Ryan nodded. Of course, there was no way that was the case. But there were plenty of other shady parts of Bluesky that Ryan now knew about.


    "Yeah, you''re probably right," Ryan responded, hoping to move on from this conversation. He didn''t want to drag Vanda into all of this any more than she already had been in the first place. But knowing that Richie worked for Bluesky now was definitely useful. Maybe Runar could have someone look into that a bit more. Maybe it had something to do with why Richie sounded so weird during that call earlier.


    For now, Ryan focused on finishing Gregor''s body. That''s what Vanda was here for in the first place, so he shouldn''t waste her time too much. He was lucky she even had the time to come and help him out at a moment''s notice.


    Through some awkward silence, Vanda continued to explain where all the individual parts of Gregor''s body should go, and how they fit together. Like that, Ryan soon built up the automaton, limb by limb. Though, different to Maximus and Gaia, this automaton had four arms instead of just two. Plus, inside of each of those arms, as well as in his legs and parts of his torso, a number of small tools were hidden that Gregor should be able to make use of quite easily. The parts connecting the wooden plates to the outside of Gregor''s body were hanging on hinges that could be flipped up if a lock was released, and Ryan was sure that Gregor could control all of this freely so that he could access the parts and tools stored in the hollow parts of his body.


    And then, hidden behind the chest''s plate was a slot for the spirit core. Ryan carefully pushed it into place, and immediately, the core began to glow. Though, different to the way the others glowed. It gave off a dark red glow, like it was heating up intensely. The heat quickly travelled through Gregor''s body, heating up the different liquids inside of him. Hot steam flowed out of the automaton''s mouth with a high-pitched whistle, as Gregor began controlling his new body.


    The automaton looked down at his hands for a few moments, before staring up at Ryan. He briefly held his lower two hands behind his back, and then formed a fist with his upper right hands, which was quickly pressed over the spot where one''s heart would be, while the edge of his left, flat hand was pressed vertically over his forehead and nose.


    "Uh... what''s he doing?" Vanda asked, a bit confused, and Ryan quickly smiled.


    "He''s doing an old salute from the time of the western independence war," Ryan explained, "The country doesn''t exist anymore, I think it was called... Karia?"Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Immediately, Gregor nodded his head in confirmation, while Ryan could feel Vanda''s stare.


    "How''d you know that?"


    "Oh, well..." Ryan quickly stood up and walked over to his shelves, grabbing one of the models standing there. It was an elvish knight wearing armour made from wood and roots, with branches and leaves sticking off of it, "This is a Karian knight from the same war. The brand that made it modelled it after a real historical figure, so there was a small booklet that explained some stuff about it all."


    Vanda raised a brow and stared up at Ryan, "So you like building toy models, you know a ton about classes and system stuff, and you''re a history nerd? And you''re also known to be extremely violent and a great fighter?"


    Ryan stared back at her for a few moments and then shrugged, "People can have hobbies."


    "Right, right... But... what now? What''s this guy''s deal?"


    "Well, he''ll have to tell me about that, hold on" Ryan responded, quickly pulling up Gregor''s status window. Of course, Vanda didn''t know that the spirits had classes and skills. But of course, spirits did tend to have special abilities, but they weren''t directly connected to the system in the same way that the spirits that were with Ryan were, so he was trying to keep that on the down-low as he looked at Gregor''s status.


    All the system windows relating to the spirits were dyed in the colour and texture of their mana. Maximus'' was smooth and red, while Gaia''s was green and seemingly made of tightly interwoven threads. And Gregor''s seemed to be a metal pane with bolts at its edges holding it in place. It wasn''t even translucent like other system windows.


    <hr>


    [Gregor]


    [Artillerist | Level - 1]


    [MP - 32.5]


    [Stats]


    -[Dexterity - 0.85]


    -[Invention - 0.75]


    -[Mana - 0.80]


    -[Physicality - 0.69]


    -[Spirituality - 0.77]


    [Skills]


    -[Artillerist''s Construction | Level - 1]


    -[Artillerist''s Invention | Level - 1]


    -[Artillerist''s Drunken Stupor | Level - 1]


    <hr>


    Ryan stared at the window confused. He knew about the ''Artillerist'' class; he had only just looked it up the other day after learning that Gregor was one, but the stats were different. Replacing the Artillerist''s ''Perception'' and ''Intuition'' were the stats ''Invention'' and ''Physicality''. Invention was a stat that basically supported the creation of new concepts and ideas, as well as the combination of old ideas. Engineering classes often had this, but the artillerist shouldn''t. Similarly, physicality didn''t make much sense here.


    Physicality showed one''s ability to move their body as a whole; their flexibility and mobility. Dexterity was basically a fine-tuned version for the hands, combining it with one''s level of hand-eye-coordination, but that should be all that was needed here. Plus, those skills, ''Invention'' and ''Drunken Stupor'', those weren''t in the skill lists Ryan looked up.


    Immediately, Ryan pulled up all of Gregor''s skills.


    <hr>


    [Artillerist''s Construction]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency - 0%]


    [Allows the user to construct and deploy machines using registered blueprints]


    [Effect - Create up to three machines]


    [Artillerist''s Invention]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency - 0%]


    [Allows the user to develop new machine blueprints]


    [Effect - Artillery Invention]


    [Artillerist''s Drunken Stupor]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency - 0%]


    [Allows the user to have their constructed machines enter a rampage by overloading their internal systems]


    [Effect - Boosts machine effects by 25% for 10 Minutes]


    [Cost - 20 MP] [Cooldown - 12 Hours]


    [Activation Requirement - State of Drunkenness]


    <hr>


    The first skill was the same as Ryan remembered it, though the scale of the effects was different as well. Usually, only one machine should be deployable at level one. As for the invention skill, that seemed to explain why the stat was there; different to other artillerists, Gregor was able to develop his own machine blueprints from scratch. Usually, that was something a separate engineer would have to do together with an artillerist.


    And that last skill... ''Artillerist''s Drunken Stupor'' was obviously a weird skill. Plus, how did a starting skill have an Activation Requirement? Those were supposed to only come into play at higher-grade skills you could get starting level 30.


    And most importantly, how the hell was Gregor, a literal robot, supposed to get drunk?


    "U-Uh..." Ryan stuttered out, "He''s got abilities related to machines and stuff, like, artillery."


    Vanda curiously leaned forward to the robot, "Oh, seriously? That''s pretty cool... Can you show me?"


    Ryan looked at Gregor, raising his brow, "Well, Gregor, can you build something? Do you have any blueprints registered?"


    Immediately, the automaton nodded his head, as a window popped up in front of Ryan.


    <hr>


    [Gregor is requesting the following materials:]


    -[200g of Brass]


    -[10g of Gunpowder]


    -[200ml of High-Proof Liquor]


    -[350ml of Motor Oil]


    -[100g of Rubber]


    -[1kg of Steel]


    -[500g of Wood]


    <hr>


    Ryan immediately stared at Gregor, and then let out a long groan.


    "Yeah, sorry, it looks like we won''t be able to show you right now... Gregor needs me to prepare the materials for him so that he can actually build things," he explained, quietly ignoring the requested liquor on the list in front of him.


    "Aww, alright... And you don''t have any of it around?" Vanda asked with a dejected expression, and Ryan slowly shook his head.


    "A bit of it, but not everything, no. We should have some steel rebar laying around, but we don''t have brass, gunpowder, or the motor oil he''s asking for. But we should be able to get all of that relatively easily," Ryan explained, "If you want, we can meet up in a couple of days and I''ll prepare everything that he needs until then?"


    Vanda thought about it, and then quickly nodded her head, "Sure! Let''s do that. I only really have time on Saturday, though... does that work for you?"


    A bit hesitantly, Ryan nodded. By then, he should be able to level up to 10, so he would have the time to take it a bit easy and hang out with someone, "That should work, yeah."


    "Alright," Vanda got up from her seat, grabbing her bag, "In that case, let''s just text later and figure out a time and place?"


    "Works for me," Ryan agreed, guiding Vanda to the flat''s front door, "Thank you so, so much for the help by the way. I don''t think I would have been able to finish today without you."


    With a smug grin, Vanda looked back at him, "And don''t you forget it. That means you owe me one."


    "Oh, 100% I do," Ryan responded without a moment''s hesitation. The quick reply almost surprised Vanda, "If you have anything you need, just let me know. Uhm, again, my uncle has some money, and he''s pretty well-connected... I did tell him about your Energiser before, and he sounded curious. I think maybe I can get him to let you present Energiser and the tech you developed for him to some companies."


    Completely taken-aback, Vanda stared up at Ryan, "Wait, what?"


    "Yeah, uh, I think he said something like that machines using Energiser''s tech would be really useful in construction. And you know, my uncle has some pretty big pull, so... while I don''t think you''d want him to just get you a job, I''m sure he can set up a meeting with some people at companies that could properly help you develop Energiser''s technology into something really useful."


    "I... uh, I... I was joking, you... you really don''t need to do anything, so I... Ryan, are you serious about that? You could make that happen?" Vanda asked, blinking like a drake in headlights. Of course, Ryan knew she wasn''t totally serious about that, but he felt like that was the least he could do. Frankly, Ryan already meant to ask Runar to help out with those sorts of showcase events at university anyway.


    There were a lot of incredibly skilled people at university, whether they were Awakened or not. And they deserved to be able to do something good with their abilities, knowledge, and expertise. And if Ryan could somehow make that happen, then he didn''t want to hesitate for even a moment.

 82 - Woodlands Cannon

    Runar put down the crate in the centre of Ryan''s bedroom. It was filled with the various materials that Gregor had requested in order to build his machines.


    "Alright, is that all? Or did you need anything else?" Runar asked, and Ryan quickly looked around the wooden box.


    "I think that''s all... Oh, wait, actually, it said he needed liquor, you didn''t bring that," he pointed out, and Runar raised a brow.


    "You were serious about that? I thought that was a joke."


    "Nope," Ryan scoffed, looking over at the desk where Gregor was currently seated. He seemed to be pretty interested in the computer, so Maximus was showing him how it worked right now, "One of his skills is called ''Artillerist''s Drunken Stupor'', so I guess he likes alcohol?"


    "How would a robot..? Wait, is that a normal artillerist skill?" with a deep frown, Runar looked over at Gregor as Ryan quickly shook his head.


    "I actually wanted to ask you about that. Like... what''s the deal with that? Maximus'' skills are normal, but two out of three of Gregor''s skills are ones that I haven''t heard about yet."


    Runar thought about it for a moment, "Well... They''re Spirits, so there''s no telling what kind of changes that has to their classes."


    "... Well, I guess so. But that means we won''t really be able to count on things like wikis to prepare for other spirits as much," Ryan groaned loudly.


    "What, have you been doing that?"


    Ryan looked at his uncle with a raised brow, "Of course. I read into any and all Knight skills that are known about and the ways different knights tended to fight and make use of those skills... I looked for any botanical classes that seemed like they had a similar skill profile to Gaia''s... I looked up growth-methods, skills, stats, and such for the Artillerist and Harlequin classes, and I tried to figure out as much as I could about classes that could match the info you gave me on Violette and Morgana."


    A bit surprised, Runar nodded his head impressed, "Well, fair enough. Though, I don''t think you need to worry all too much. I''m sure everything you learned about those classes will still come in useful. It''s just that you can''t fully predict everything. In the first place, it''s possible that some of them have unique classes like Gaia does. Having some unique skills is certainly much easier to handle."


    "It''s not just that, it''s like a whole different class. Gregor''s stats are different too. Until now, classes could have had similar names, but never the same name. And that''s weird," Ryan pointed out, and Runar stopped for a few moments. He didn''t know exactly what to say to that.


    "That is weird. But still... I wouldn''t worry about it too much. Just keep doing what you''re doing, and tell me whenever you need any help."


    "Yeah, alright. You''re right," Ryan said, looking over to Gregor, "Though, I do think we''ll need that liquor. It says ''high proof'', so..."


    "We should have some in the kitchen, hold on," with a sigh, Runar turned around and walked out of Ryan''s bedroom, who quickly started to take all the materials from the box that Runar brought. Seeing this, Gregor turned around toward Ryan curiously. He jumped from the table and walked up next to the materials, taking a closer look at them.


    "Are these what you need?" Ryan asked, and Gregor immediately nodded his head, though he was clearly looking around for something. With a sigh, Ryan explained, "Runar is picking up the alcohol right now, don''t worry."


    At that moment, Runar stepped back into the room and put a bottle of high-percentage whiskey down onto the ground. Immediately, Gregor seemed to grow excited, looking at the bottle curiously. He stared over at Ryan, as if waiting for him to let him have a drink.


    "Alright, alright, well... show me what you can do."


    The moment Ryan said this, Gregor turned toward the materials and a message appeared in front of Ryan''s eyes.


    <hr>


    [Gregor has confirmed the materials for the -Woodlands Cannon-]


    <hr>


    The moment this happened, Gregor got to work. Ryan could see a wave of mana flow out from the automaton, latching onto all the materials, before Gregor pressed his hands onto the pieces of metal in front of him. A strong heat flowed out from his hands as he practically cut out the pieces that he needed from the metal, each one of his four hands moving independently at an extreme speed.


    Before he missed it all, Ryan quickly pulled out his phone and started recording. Since Vanda had helped out so much, he wanted to at least send her a video to show her the process.


    Gregor walked around all of the materials, grabbing what he needed and neatly placing it all down to the side. Of course, he was particularly careful around the gunpowder and alcohol. The gunpowder was still in small ampules for now, and the bottle was closed. Though, that last part wasn''t the case for a lot longer anymore.


    With a quick jump, Gregor leapt up to the top of the bottle, opening it up faster than Ryan could ever hope to do himself. The automaton reached one of his arms down into the bottle, and his wrist folded open. A metal pipe flowed down inside, immediately starting to suck up some of the alcohol, filling the large liquid container in that arm.


    "... That''s what that was for?" Ryan asked, as Gregor the container basically popped out from his arm before the wooden plates covered the hollow space back up. Treating the container like a bottle, Gregor pressed the opening against his mouth and just chugged it a few times. Remembering the automaton''s structure, Ryan knew that the alcohol should basically be flowing into a small chamber directly adjacent to the spirit core that only became sealed once the core was set into place. That meant that the alcohol was flowing directly against the spirit core, and was probably absorbed somehow.


    But the moment that this happened, something changed about Gregor''s behaviour. Before now, he was always moving in a very clearly ''robotic'' way. Stiff and rigid, with sharp motions. But now that he had something to drink, he immediately seemed to slow down to some degree. Ryan was worried if Gregor would be able to properly work like this, but just a moment later, he realized that he didn''t have to worry at all.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    The automaton approached all the parts that he had cut out in a relaxed manner, and with three of his hands, as one of them was constantly holding onto the small ''bottle''. Whenever that bottle was empty, Gregor would refill it on the larger whiskey bottle, and to make it easier, Ryan poured it into a glass that the artillerist could quickly reach.


    And at this point, Ryan finally understood why Gregor had the ''physicality'' stat. He was truly using his whole body to work. His limbs twisted and turned to give the automaton more leverage as he was putting everything in place, certain parts of his body opened up automatically to provide tools that were needed, and Gregor walked and jumped around the carefully-constructed machine with precision. And all of that was happening despite the fact that he was very clearly getting more and more drunk.


    "Well, I guess you two are gonna get along, huh?" Runar asked with a laugh, "Though, if his class is related to building these machines, what do you think the best way to help him level up would be?"


    Ryan thought about it for a moment, "One of his skills lets him make his own blueprints and invent new machines and guns and stuff, so I guess that would be a good way. Obviously, beyond acting as combat support for Maximus."


    "Wait, if he can make his own things, then... You know what, I''ll go grab some stuff from downstairs, I''ll be back in a bit," immediately, Runar turned around and left Ryan''s bedroom, rushing downstairs to the basement.


    Ryan kept watching Gregor work, as the cannon that he was building was slowly but surely coming to be, built from different materials just as Gregor himself was. Wooden plates covered the cannon, almost as if hiding it. Before long, the whole thing was put together. Despite the fact that Gregor''s stats were so low, he was working at an incredible speed and with ridiculous precision.


    Though, looking at the machine, Ryan kept getting a bit surprised. He knew that there was a lot of incredibly advanced technology during the western independence war that was then later lost up until a hundred or so years ago, but seeing a cannon from that time being built in front of him was shocking. Despite being so old, it seemed weirdly modern.


    <hr>


    [The -Artillerist''s Construction- Skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    Once the cannon itself was finished, Gregor moved on to something else. He sat down in front of the gunpowder ampules and the brass bullet parts that he had prepared earlier.


    He carefully assembled about two dozen bullets, filling each of them with just enough gunpowder. However, these bullets were practically the size of regular bullets. If you scaled them up ten times, they were basically the size of small cannon balls. They were carefully filled into a hollow section at the bottom of the cannon. With a last swig of his bottle, Gregor turned toward Ryan.


    "Are you done?" Ryan asked, taking a look at the cannon curiously. Immediately, Gregor nodded, and a broad grin formed on the spirit keeper''s face, "We should go test it out later."


    The moment he said so, Gregor walked over to the cannon, clearly getting ready to load and turn it on. Ryan freaked out, not wanting a gun to be shot inside of his home, and tried to press a hand between Gregor and the cannon.


    "Not like that! Please don''t blow up my room," Ryan clarified, "We''re heading out to a place where we can properly use them soon, so calm down. Can we move this?"


    Quickly, the automaton nodded his head. He moved around Ryan''s hand, unloading the bullet that he had just placed inside a moment earlier, and then started folding up the cannon into itself. More and more, the reason for the almost randomly placed wooden plates became apparent, creating a box around the small cannon.


    "Alright, that means we can carry them around and deploy them as needed," Ryan muttered, though he was thinking about the wording of Gregor''s skill. It said that he could create up to three machines right now. So what was going to happen when a fourth was created?


    "... Do you think you can create a couple more? And maybe prepare some more ammunition before we go?"


    Gregor didn''t hesitate for a moment, quickly walking up to the materials again.


    <hr>


    [Gregor has confirmed the materials for the -Woodlands Cannon-]


    <hr>


    "Hm... Is that the only blueprint you have right now?" Ryan asked, and Gregor slowly turned around and nodded. If that was the case, then Ryan should make sure Gregor had everything he needed to develop new blueprints as well. And that was exactly when Runar came back, carrying a number of briefcases in his hands.


    "Alright, let him take a look at these later. It''s fine if they break or aren''t usable afterward, they''ve just been laying around anyway," Runar placed the briefcases onto the ground and opened them up. While Gregor was preparing more parts for another cannon, Runar placed a number of different guns down onto the ground nearby.


    Pistols, machine guns, there was even a disassembled sniper rifle.


    "... How many guns do you have?"


    "A handful. Before she settled on the ones she has right now, Yamada used a lot of different guns. Plus, it''s always good to have a couple different things laying around in case something breaks or we get someone assigned here that has a gun-related class or something," Runar explained, "Now, there are a few that are standard-issue, but there''s also a few that were reinforced through magic engineering, as well as some that are magically strengthened through my runes."


    "Do you think he can replicate your runes?"


    "Well, anyone can, technically," Runar explained, "I can do a couple of things with my runes that others can''t, plus they''re more effective than for others, but as long as there''s a supply of magic and the runes are set up properly, anyone can use them to some degree. Especially for making magic items, runes are a go-to for a lot of people. The main difference is that I use a larger variety and some ancient lost runes."


    Curiously, Ryan took a look at the weapons that were laid out in front of him. Gregor also seemed curious, but for now, he was still working on the second cannon, so he would just take a look later. Hopefully he wasn''t going to be far too drunk later on. After all, if he made two more cannons, Gregor was going to drink more than half a litre of high-proof liquor in effectively one sitting.


    "We''ll see what he can do with the guns, then."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Not long after, they had made it back to the amusement park dungeon. Runar would be watching from afar again, while Ryan and the spirits would try and get used to having Gregor join their combat. There was actually something that worried Ryan a bit; usually, an Artillerist would have a skill that allowed them to practically remote-control everything they built in the middle of combat, but Gregor didn''t. Instead, he had that ''Drunken Stupor'' skill that, while increasing damage, didn''t seem quite as useful when the cannons had to be triggered manually.


    Though, in the end, this was just guesswork right now. How well Gregor would do in combat was yet to be seen. For now, they would seek out some of the petting zoo monsters and have Gregor act as support using just one of the cannons he built.


    Using the same tactics a usual, Ryan used the Spirit Link skill to connect to Gaia, and with that, the two sub-golems, using them as scout. Since they were ignored by the monsters as long as they stood still, they were perfect for that.


    Once they then found some monsters that seemed like good targets, Maximus would usually ambush them to get an initial attack in. Though, in this case, that was going to be a little different. Since they now had Gregor, it seemed like a better idea to let him shoot at one of the monsters first.


    Ryan placed the folded-up cannon onto the ground, and then watched as Gregor properly unfolded and anchored it into the ground, loading a bullet into it. After getting everything up and running, Gregor aimed the ancient cannon toward the target with extreme speed and precision in his movements. And with a swift motion, he slammed his fist onto the trigger, shooting a bullet at the first monster.

 83 - Spirit Seal Recovery

    The bullet of Gregor''s cannon cut through the air and then buried itself inside of the neck of the first monster. Surprised and weakened, Maximus was able to quickly jump in and finish it off.


    <hr>


    [You have killed a level 7 -Giant Rabbit-]


    <hr>


    Ryan grinned broadly, watching as Gregor got the cannon ready for the next attack. The three other rabbits that were part of this small group quickly went to attack Maximus, though their attacks were quickly shot down with the help of the elemental greatsword Granfell. The water elemental attacks dug through the monsters'' flesh, cutting it apart in almost gruesome ways.


    Their blood was pushed out of their bodies through the profusely bleeding wounds. Another bullet hit one of the monsters, clearly cracking its spine and killing it.


    One after another, the giant rabbits were killed, either by Maximus'' blade or by Gregor''s bullets. They were able to kill a group of four giant rabbits much faster they would have been able to before, so just as Ryan expected, the efficiency had gone up considerably. And that was with Gregor just at level one and just a single one of the most ''basic'' cannons that Gregor would be able to construct in the future.


    "This is great," Ryan grinned broadly, "Great job, everyone."


    As Ryan said so, he looked at the metallic system window floating in front of him.


    <hr>


    [Gregor has levelled up!]


    <hr>


    "And congratulations on levelling up, Gregor!"


    Quickly, Ryan pulled out his phone as well as Gregor''s status window, quickly jotting down the updated stat information.


    "Alright, 0.36 total growth, that''s great!" he pointed out, quickly pushing his phone back into his pocket, where it was protected by a layer of metal. Silvia had specifically made sure to prepare it like this so that he could carry his phone around. It came in useful in Ryan''s first dungeon, so he liked having it close.


    Once the sub-golems collected the coins dropped by the giant rabbits, it was time to move on to the next group. If things were like this, then Gregor should be able to level up quickly, and with that, Ryan''s next level-up was going to be close as well.


    The next group of monsters was some giant goats again. The rabbits and goats were the most common monsters here, so this definitely wasn''t a surprise. After Gregor properly deployed the cannons, this time setting up all three at once, he really started showing off his real talent.


    He set up one cannon and pre-aimed it, then set up the next and the next. Once Ryan gave the signal to start the attack, the first cannon was quickly fired, and while it cooled down for a moment and all the parts moved back into place, Gregor ran over to cannon number two. Repeating the process until all three cannons were shot, Gregor then returned back to the first one, loaded it back up, and shot another bullet. For the rest of the battle, he kept on doing this exact cycle, loading, shooting, and then moving onto the next.


    With the help of the backline support, the fight against the giant goats was over pretty quickly. Their monsters riddled with bullet holes were slowed down considerably, and due to the fact they were not only startled but also focusing more on Gregor than Maximus, the knight was able to take advantage of the confusion and take the monsters down.


    That way, throughout a few more encounters, Gregor levelled up to level 3. And before long, finally, something else happened too.


    At the same time as Gregor, Ryan levelled up once again as well. He had finally reached level 10. When the body of the group''s last monster hit the ground, Ryan''s level rolled over.


    <hr>


    [You have levelled up!]


    [You have learned the skill -Spirit Seal Recovery-]


    <hr>


    "Yes!" Ryan practically yelled out, though he quickly pressed his hand in front of his mouth. Though, he probably didn''t have to be all that quiet. The cannons that Gregor built were surprisingly quiet, but they were still fairly loud, all things considered.


    "Runar!" he said, turning into his uncle''s direction. Or rather, the direction where he should be lingering, just out of view. He quickly pushed up his thumb with a grin, and just a moment later, Runar rushed through the thicket. Waving his pen in the air, he drew a rune into the air and created a barrier around Ryan and the spirits.


    "Level 10?" Runar asked, just making sure, and Ryan immediately nodded his head.


    "Yup! Finally I can get those fuckers off my back... I''ll head straight to the Awakened Centre to have my level updated," with a relieved sigh, Ryan pulled up his status window, checking out how much his stats grew. And they grew by a whopping 0.40 total! All of his stats were above 1 now, even his ''Spirituality'' which has always been sort of lagging behind.


    "Sure do that. What''s the skill you got?" Runar asked curiously, seemingly also relieved that the Bluesky guys would stop bothering them for a while.


    Ryan looked at the skill''s name. He hadn''t even registered it properly until now, "It, uh, it wasn''t on the list you gave me. It''s called ''Spirit Seal Recovery''."


    Immediately, Runar frowned, "Excuse me? What do you mean, ''Seal Recovery''?"


    "I don''t know, don''t ask me. You know more about all of this than I do," Ryan retorted, "Hold on, I''ll pull it up for a second."


    <hr>


    [Spirit Seal Recovery]


    [Level ¨C 1] [Proficiency ¨C 0%]


    [Allows for the temporary relief on the seals placed on the spirits] Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    [Effect ¨C 2/10 Scale]


    [Cost ¨C 1 MP per 1 Minute per Spirit]


    <hr>


    Ryan read the skill out loud, though he was a bit confused, "Wait, wasn''t this effect the same one as in the ''Spirit Enlargement'' skill on the list you gave me?"


    Runar silently averted his gaze, trying to think about what all of this meant. He was muttering to himself, and his eyes darted around.


    "I..." he finally let out, "I don''t know what''s going on... Can you try the skill out?"


    "Of course. The mana cost is super low, and it doesn''t even have a cooldown like the Spirit Enlargement skill was supposed to have, so..." Ryan said, quickly looking at Maximus, "Want to give it a try first?"


    Immediately, the knight nodded his head. He held his sword tightly in his hands, as Ryan took a deep breath and activated the new skill. Maximus started giving off a soft red glow, as though he was about to fall apart into the red wisps that appeared whenever he moved in and out of his domain. But instead of flowing toward Ryan, they simple moved slightly outward, as Maximus doubled in size.


    Just as Ryan thought, this was the same ''Spirit Enlargement'' skill, just with a different name and description. Instead of being 1/10th scale, Maximus was now 2/10th scale, now around 45 centimetres tall. If the skill progressed like the original ''Spirit Enlargement'' skill, then every ten levels, the scale would increase by ''1''. There should even be a 10% boost in stats for every increase, which was amazing on top of the increased weight and reach that obviously came with the increased size. That effect wasn''t mentioned in the description of the original skill either, being just something like a side-effect. That being the case, Ryan quickly opened Maximus'' status to check, but what he saw was... confusing.


    <hr>


    [Maximus]


    [Knight | Level - 10]


    [AP - 128 (Temp)]


    [Stats]


    -[Aura - 2.76 (Temp)]


    -[Strength - 2.98 (Temp)]


    -[Stamina 2.70 (Temp)]


    -[Resistance - 2.98 (Temp)]


    -[Physicality - 2.74 (Temp)]


    <hr>


    "Double..." Ryan muttered quietly, and the confused Runar, who was still stuck in stunned contemplation, snapped his head toward him.


    "What? Yeah, he doubled in size... is there anything else weird?"


    "His stats... they''re supposed to just be 10% higher, but they''re double. Double. Runar, they''re fucking doub-"


    "I get it, calm down," Runar tapped his foot on the ground, starting to anxiously bite his fingernail, "Alright, we''ll figure this out. This is weird, but there has to be a reason why the skill is so different."


    Ryan stared at his uncle. His gut was telling him something.


    "Runar. You know what''s going on. Or at least, you have a better idea than I do. I''ve conceded in trying to learn more about your abilities and level and whatnot, but I''m not going to let you hide things about my class. So tell me what''s going on."


    "... Fine," Runar sighed loudly, "This is just speculation. I''m not really the most knowledgeable about the intricacies of the Spirit Keeper class either. Learning about it always felt... weird to me. I''ve been looking into it a bit more since you awakened, but-"


    "Just say it, man. What do you think is going on? Like, how the hell am I giving Maximus that kind of boost with just 1MP per minute?"


    "... Because you''re not boosting him. As the skill says, you''re temporarily releasing a seal. Seals are complicated, there''s a lot of different types, but generally if you know how they work, you can release them. And it looks like what the skill is doing is placing 1MP worth of mana in a very precise spot of a seal, interrupting the flow and allowing the spirits'' real power to shine through while that is the case," Runar explained, but Ryan was still confused.


    "What do you mean? The spirits are sealed?"


    "That''s one of the theories at least, which I think was just confirmed by your own class. Initially, we just thought that the spirits simply never had the ability to form their own bodies in the first place. But instead, it seems as though that ability, together with a lot of their strengths and powers, was sealed away. And the Spirit Keeper is the one that allows them to overcome that seal."


    Ryan looked over at the spirits. Gaia, Maximus, and Gregor were looking up at him, but none of them seemed to know anything about this either. Rather, they seemed shocked to hear this as well.


    "Who, or what, or whatever... just how did they get sealed?"


    "How would I know? Clearly, we didn''t even know that the spirits were sealed to begin with. I think that maybe whatever sealed the spirits away also did something to the Spirit Keeper class, and then when..." Runar started, though he stopped mid-sentence. Ryan as well was starting to realize something.


    "Do you think that... my dad knew about this? That he tried to release whatever influence was on the Spirit Keeper class, and then... things went wrong? Or maybe they went right, and he gave up the class and his connection to the system to-"


    "Please," Runar interrupted his nephew, "Just... let''s not think about that right now. I''ll try to look into some things. But I will keep you updated, alright?"


    "Alright. Thanks, man," Ryan responded, turning around toward the spirits, "But in that case... let''s see if this..."


    Right now, with just one of them being affected by the skill, Ryan''s passive mana recovery was higher than the mana used by the skill. However, with two of them, it would be much higher. But since the skill didn''t need to be active constantly, it should be easy enough to deal with. Ryan activated the skill on Gregor, and watched as the automaton doubled in size. But while Gregor grew, the machines that he had built stayed the same size.


    "Gregor, do you think you can scale up your blueprints if you build them like this?" Ryan asked, and Gregor immediately nodded his head in response. In that case, maybe they could prepare larger cannons in advance, and while they would be harder to move, they would also have a lot more firepower.


    But for now, there was one particular benefit to Gregor''s size increasing. Not only was he able to move around faster, but with his doubled stats, the speed at which he could manipulate the cannons was faster as well.


    Ryan looked over at Gaia, "Sorry, we''ll test it out with you later, alright? Having you grow to two meters tall all of a sudden might make things a bit more difficult," he pointed out, but the golem seemed to understand, and didn''t mind it at all. Rather, she just seemed excited that her friends were a bit closer to her size right now.


    Runar stepped away again, clearly still taken aback by this whole situation. Meanwhile, Ryan got moving, trying to find a particular monster. By now, he had learned enough about its habits that he could figure out roughly where it tended to be in here. As long as that didn''t change along with the dungeon''s overall structure, finding the area boss wasn''t going to be hard.


    And it seemed as though Ryan was right; before long, he was able to find the boss monster of the petting zoo; the Moss sheep. While it was too strong for them to take on before, with more than double the strength they had back then, there wasn''t any doubt in Ryan''s mind that they could take it now.


    Ryan had Gaia stay further away and set down the cannons for Gregor. While the artillerist prepared for the start of the battle, Maximus got ready to attack as well. Usually, him and Ryan would have discussed what weapon he was going to use, but this time around, there was only one choice.


    As Maximus grew, his elemental greatsword also grew. It looked like only things that were made of magic like the spirits, which included the sword, grew in size alongside them. All the other weapons were now simply too small for the knight to actually use.


    Once Gregor prepared, Ryan looked at the Moss Sheep and waited for the right moment. Right now, it was tearing into the flesh of one of the fellow monsters. Somehow, it was always carrying around a different one of the petting zoo monsters whenever Ryan spotted it here. Obviously, considering that they should disappear when they died, but in this case, the area boss seemed to be able to hunt and kill them without letting that happen.


    "Three, two, one..." Ryan slowly counted down, whispering to Gregor. He was waiting for the right moment to shoot, and having some grasp of the cannons'' accuracy by now, he knew what the best moment to shoot really was.


    Ryan stared at the moss sheep as the monster turned its head and body slightly.


    "Now!"

 84 - Chant

    ^ Almost simultaneously, Gregor released two bullets from his cannons, quickly rushing over to the third to shoot a follow-up.


    They shot toward the moss sheep in a straight line. One of them hit the side of the moss sheep''s head but didn''t seem capable of breaking through its skull, while the second bullet got lost somewhere in the moss sheep''s fur. If it managed to pierce through, then it must have at least damaged the sheep''s neck to some degree.


    The third bullet, being shot just a moment later, was lost in its fur completely at an angle where it wouldn''t hit anything. In that short moment between the first two and the third bullet, the moss sheep had turned its entire body toward Ryan and Gregor. Just in case, Ryan immediately held his shield in front of him to protect himself and the automaton. The shield was infused with some mana and could now provide some level of stronger protection.


    "Maximus!" Ryan exclaimed, glancing to the left. And just as he thought, the moss sheep was much smarter than some of the other petting zoo animals so far. It was able to understand Ryan to some degree. That was something that he guessed after carefully observing the area boss whenever it came close; it didn''t really act like an animal in a lot of ways, but moved with a sort of intention and used its environment in ways that he knew for a fact a moss sheep wouldn''t usually be able to do.


    The moss sheep glanced to the side where Ryan had looked, but of course, Maximus was coming from the whole other direction. While this area boss seemed smarter than other animals, it definitely wasn''t smart enough to see through these tricks.


    Coming in from the moss sheep''s blind spot, Maximus swung the elemental greatsword straight at the moss sheep''s head. The blade, cloaked in flames, dug into the boss'' eye, blinding it. The sheep bellowed out in pain as it swung its body at Maximus to throw him back.


    The area boss'' skull now had a large, deep crack in it created by Maximus'' attack, and it was blind in one of its eyes. Just then, another bullet was shot at the boss, shot through its mouth into its throat as it let out its pain.


    Its mouth was filled with chunks of gore sticking to its weirdly sharp teeth, though some of those teeth were completely shattered apart by the bullets. Its throat was now filling with its own blood, distracting it just long enough for one more bullet to hit the sheep''s face, striking straight into its eye. Clearly, Gregor''s stats influenced the accuracy of the cannons considerably.


    Ryan watched as Maximus now cut the front legs of the absolutely massive moss sheep, making it fall down forward, unable to defend against these attacks. With his regular, swift motions, Maximus was able to position himself underneath the monster''s head as it descended, letting the moss sheep''s own weight help him pierce through its incredibly thick skull. The water elemental infusion of the blade made sure that the attack would spread throughout the inside of the boss'' skull even if just a small gap was opened. And just like that, the area boss'' brain was turned into mush, and it went completely limp.


    As Maximus carried the weight of the moss sheep on him, the area boss'' body started disappearing and some messages appeared in front of Ryan''s eyes.


    <hr>


    [You have killed the Level 15 -Giant Beast Boss-]


    [Maximus has levelled up!]


    [The -Knight''s Nemesis- Skill has levelled up]


    [The -Knight''s Attack- Skill has levelled up]


    [Gregor has levelled up!]


    [Gregor has levelled up!]


    [The -Spirit Seal Recovery- Skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    Ryan saw the system windows and broadly grinned, "Well, this was pretty effective, huh?"


    "You can say that again, that was almost... too fast," Runar once more appeared from the place where he was hiding out, so that he wouldn''t influence everyone''s levelling speed with his mere presence. It seemed like he managed to calm himself down a bit after the shock of realizing some truths behind the spirits'' existence.


    "I was already going to try and go after the moss sheep once we got into a proper rhythm with Gregor, so with their stats doubled, it feels kind of obvious that it would be easy. Right?" Ryan pointed out. Runar sighed lightly, nodding.


    "Let''s just hope this doesn''t influence their levelling speed too much. Otherwise you''re going to have to face some much stronger, and far more dangerous enemies soon..."


    Ryan scratched the back of his head, "I mean, we can take it slow and think about things properly for now. We don''t have the stress of having to level up for now. Oh, that doesn''t mean that I don''t want to help them. Clearly, Gregor and Maximus like to fight and battle here in the dungeon, and I don''t want to take the opportunity to level up from them either. But we don''t need to worry about the level-up speed as much anymore. Right?"


    Runar looked at his nephew with a raised brow, "Uhm... yeah, I guess so. Your speed is already pretty fast anyway."


    "Right? Plus, I don''t even think we need to worry too much. Gregor and Maximus both levelled up just now," Ryan explained, squatting down in front of the last few remains of the area boss.


    "Really. Huh."


    Ryan glanced back at his uncle with a smirk as he grabbed the small statue that was left behind by the area boss. However, there wasn''t just the statue. As the moss sheep''s stomach fell apart, though, a large amount of coins flowed out.


    "... Do all the area bosses kill the monsters in their own areas?"


    "No, not all of them. A lot of them, though. I guess it''s kind of a theme here. Don''t ask me why," Runar replied, watching as Gaia''s sub-golems quickly helped out with picking up the hard plastic coins, "But hey, don''t complain too much. I''m sure you''ve gotten, what, a thousand points in this area?"


    Ryan thought about it for a moment, "That sounds about right? With this I should be around 1100 or maybe even 1200. Oh, by the way, what exactly happens when you collect all statues?"This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Nothing, actually. It''s just a sort of useless gimmick," Runar pointed out, "But it''s a decent way to figure out what you still need to get to."


    "Hm, alright. Anyway, let''s get to the gift shop and buy some new parts."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Modak connected a speaker to a power source. The speaker had exposed plates and wires sticking out from basically every side. Crystal filters were attached to the side, and even all the speaker plates were made of thin crystal sheets. It was properly fine-tuned with the help of the researcher Jack Field, who had helped Modak employ methods of aura manipulation in ways that supplemented the methods the orc was already making use of.


    Carefully, he took a step back and turned on the speaker. A basic signal was input into it, and it slowly started releasing audible sound. It was scratchy and not perfect in any way whatsoever, but it worked at least. Looking at the screen displaying the sensor''s results, the mana output seemed to be a pretty good match for what it was supposed to do.


    So, Modak slowly turned the speaker off again. He took the somewhat oversized mana tape that him and Marge had prepared for this beforehand, and carefully placed it into the tape reader. Different to a normal tape reader, though, this one interacted with the mana on the tape a little differently to allow the mana signature to be copied better.


    Taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what he assumed would be another failure, Modak turned on the tape reader. The ''chant'' currently recorded on the tape was a very simple spell that only relied on vocal components. Basically, it created an magical phenomenon in the air. Specifically, it should create the sound of a piano being played.


    And as the chant was output through the speaker, nothing happened. Just as Modak thought, it was a failure. He let out a long groan, realizing that nothing happened again, and marked this test as another failure.


    Marge had already long gone home, so he was alone in his lab trying to test it out, and he really felt like he could get some kind of breakthrough tonight. He just felt like that had to be it.


    "Fuck, what the hell is wrong here?" Modak sighed, biting down on the pencil he was holding. Frustrated, he got up, and pulled the tape out of the player without turning the speaker off. A loud screech echoed through the room, but that wasn''t what Modak noticed first. Instead, he focused on the three notes that were just played. They were random and a well-tuned piano would probably not be able to create these sounds, but nonetheless; this was indeed a breakthrough.


    Modak stared at the tape confused, not sure what just happened, when he glanced down at the tape. There was a large scratch on an exposed part of the crystal tape.


    "Wait, was the... was the mana released?" Modak wondered, when his heart almost skipped a beat, "That''s it! I can''t just let the mana be duplicated, I need to have the tape act as the original vessel; the mana frequency will be released from the tape, and then while being processed will be imbued with the properties that it needs to create a magical effect!"


    Instantly, Modak practically tore open the tape player, changing around wires and pulling out small parts on the baseboard to change the way that the player worked. He pushed the tape back inside of the player, and started it back up.


    And then... music played. Though, that was probably wrong. It was just a random assortment of notes that vaguely sounded like they could have been created by a broken piano. But even so, to Modak, it sounded beautiful.


    A broad grin formed on his face as he looked at the tape player. The mana that was placed onto the crystal tape was now completely gone from it. Basically, each tape would be a one-time use item, but even so, this proved it. It was possible to mechanically recreate magic!


    There were instances where spells were placed onto crystal receptacles and were then mechanically triggered, but this was completely different. Here, all the processing and formation of the spell was done through this machine.


    With adrenaline rushing through his veins, Modak tried out something else. The tape that was playing right now was recorded by a mage that was assisting them. After all, the initial idea was to allow mages to temporarily save the chant and then replay it later, but from Modak''s understanding, that really wasn''t what was happening here.


    He grabbed a version of the tape that he himself had recorded, swapping it out with the one currently playing. Modak was a little anxious for some reason, but even so, he played the tape. And just like before, the notes were quiet and completely wrong, but still; a spell was enacted. A spell created through Modak''s voice.


    This was practically his dream come true!


    "I need to fine-tune this immediately," Modak muttered quietly. First things first, he had to fix the speaker. Luckily, it really just worked like a regular speaker, so physically there shouldn''t be anything wrong, and Modak should be able to adjust all the values to produce a proper, clean sound with the use of a number of test signals as well as a secondary regular speaker as a reference.


    It took an hour to get just this perfectly down to a point Modak was happy with, when he started working on something else.


    Modak opened his laptop and opened an audio-editing software. Him and Silvia played around with this together a bit in the past, because they were both really into music. Ryan was as well, but he was less interested in making music himself. But even so, Modak knew some basics of editing audio tracks properly.


    He got his microphone and re-recorded the chant. Using that, he created a few different versions that he played onto different mana-tapes. For one, he tried to filter out any possible background noise from the track, levelled out the volume, reduced any audio interferences, and then did a number of tests. For one, he wanted to see how the decibel level of the recorded base track affected the resulting spell, or how certain voice modifications would mess things up, if at all.


    He created about a dozen different tracks of the same exact chant and recorded it onto different tapes.


    The first tape that he played was the one with the unedited chant. It already sounded a lot better, so clearly a lot of the interference came from the speaker itself. Even so, the notes were still random and quite out of tune, just not as jarring to listen to as before.


    The second tape, with the background noise removed and the volume levelled out, you could already notice something that was more like a proper ''melody''. It was still pretty random, but each note played into the next a lot better, and the specific notes weren''t out of tune anymore.


    And then, with each tape, Modak''s understanding of how this entire setup worked grew more and more. He made changes to his pronunciation and specifically edited parts of the audio track to get the right changes. Usually, the actual music that was played once the spell was activated was affected by the caster''s mentality and what they were thinking about, but in this case, it seemed as though Modak was able to affect minute details by changing the pitch of particular waves along the audio track.


    Bit by bit, Modak came closer to his goal. And then, before he knew it, the door opened up.


    "Modak? You''re here already? Don''t tell me you''ve been here all night!" Marge came rushing into the room, "And please, turn down the music! This is way too loud!"


    Almost startled, Modak turned around toward Marge, "Huh?" he asked, taking off his headphones. Realizing who it was that was talking to him, Modak jumped up, "Perfect! You''re here! Marge, it works! I got it to work!"


    "What do you... What do you mean?" Marge asked, looking at Modak confused, as she slowly but surely realized, "This music, is it... created through the spell we had someone record? Did you manage to re-play a mage''s chant properly?"


    A massive grin formed on Modak''s face, "No, even better. Listen closely."


    Marge, whose excitement was growing more and more, did as Modak said and listened closely. The spell''s secondary effect was to hide the voice of the one who was chanting, since the chant needed to be spoken constantly throughout the spell. So, since it was distracting otherwise, this was the best solution.


    But if you focused properly, the voice of whoever chanted did push through a bit. And soon, Marge realized whose voice it was.


    "Hold on, now, this is your voice, isn''t it? How..?"


    "Marge, we didn''t create a way to replay a spell someone chanted before, we created a new way to cast magic. This isn''t duplicating a chant; it''s turning speech into magic."

 85 - Quite Handy

    The door opened with a loud creak, as Ryan and Runar stepped into the gift shop. Ryan quickly approached the ''treasure chest'' in the corner of the room and dumped all the coins into it, reserving only one for later. He placed the Moss Sheep''s statue inside together with his point card, and then shut the lid.


    Ryan waited a few moments and then opened the lid up again. All the coins and the statue had disappeared, and the corresponding points were put right onto the card. It now read ''Points - 1257''. Around 800 more than the first time Ryan bought things from here.


    He quickly approached the old wooden counter and knocked on it a few times. The clown popped out immediately, and Ryan immediately gave him the plastic coin he was still holding onto. With an excited grin, the clown held his hand toward Ryan, who immediately shook it.


    Just like last time, all the toys and plushies that were on the wall before fell down onto the ground, revealing a number of different vouchers. There were two more seed and sapling vouchers left each, two more weapon vouchers, as well as three more armour vouchers. But beyond those, there were six more vouchers.


    <blockquote>


    Gregor - Random Blueprint Voucher - 200 Points


    Gregor - Random Arm Voucher - 200 Points


    </blockquote>


    "An... arm voucher? I guessed the Blueprint part, but... what does it mean with ''arm''?" Ryan asked out loud, though it was mostly a rhetorical question. One that Runar still felt like answering


    "You know, the things coming out from your shoulder."


    Ryan looked at his uncle with a blank expression, "Ha-ha. Funny. You know that''s not what I meant. Also, why are Gregor''s things both 200 Points? Gaia''s Seed Vouchers were only 100 points."


    "The prices are pretty random, honestly. Either way, just decide what you''re going to get and then let''s go home," Runar suggested, patting his nephew on the shoulder.


    "Right, right, don''t rush me."


    Ryan quickly looked at the wall in front of him. First, he would grab one of each for Gregor; that would be 400 points. Plus, an armour voucher for Maximus, which would make the total 600. That way, he finally got one of each, since he already got both of Gaia''s vouchers last time around. That meant he had another 650 points to spend now.


    After a quick briefing with the spirits, Ryan decided to get another one of each of Gaia''s vouchers, since the seeds and sapling would take the longest to be ready anyway, and then decided to get another voucher for each of Maximus and Gregor.


    Maximus wanted another weapon, and Gregor wanted another ''arm'', though Ryan expected he would want another blueprint. Then again, Gregor could make those himself, so maybe that did make sense.


    Ryan grabbed the vouchers and put them away for now. He would take a proper look at everything later at home. And with that, Ryan and his uncle made their way out of the dungeon. The healer Kula was waiting outside, but since there was nothing for him to do right now, he was quickly dismissed for now. It seemed like Runar had hired him until the end of the month, so he would be sticking around for a while longer.


    The moment the car stopped in front of their home, Runar jumped out and rushed into the caf¨¦, saying he had to check up on some things regarding Ryan''s new skill. Meanwhile, Ryan made his way upstairs.


    Finally stepping back into the flat, Ryan let out a loud groan. He was happy he could finally take it a bit easier and think about... everything. He''s been so busy trying to level up and get stronger that he had no idea what he was supposed to do right after that.


    Why exactly did he want to get stronger? What did he want his part in the Aglecard family to be? Ryan didn''t even know what he wanted to do in the future before all of this started happening; he basically just went to university to buy himself some time before shit would have to get real. At least he had a couple of goals to follow for the time being; and that was to finally get Jester to acknowledge him, and to find the remaining parts for Morgana and Violette.


    But even that didn''t really lead to anything afterward. Once Ryan did all of that, he would have to figure out what else he would do. Or he could just dedicate all his time to helping out the spirits. That seemed like it could be a fulltime job?


    Then again, Runar mentioned that a lot of the time, the spirits were supposed to do their own thing once Ryan got the skills that were needed to let them stay further away from him. And once that happened, he might not necessarily have to take care of them too much. Rather, because he was just standing back during the trips to the dungeon every time, he felt pretty useless already. Like he was letting the spirits do all the tough parts.


    Ryan groaned lightly as he waved his hand, letting the spirits out of their domains while walking into the living room. He dropped down on the couch next to Liam.


    "You''re back from your quest?" the boy asked curiously, "Have you finally succeeded in your goal, as you said you hoped to?"


    Ryan looked at the young vampire with a smile, pointing at Maximus. He activated the ''Spirit Seal Recovery'' skill, and Maximus quickly doubled in size. Liam''s eyes started sparkling.


    "Woah! That''s so cool!" he exclaimed, letting the ''King'' mask slip for a few moments, "Can you do that for all of them?"


    "Mhm, I can double their size right now. Once the skill levels up, I can make them even larger. We''ll actually go downstairs and try it out on Gaia in a bit. Because of her skill that links her to her garden, she has seeds and moss and stuff on her, and we want to know how the skill affects all of that," Ryan explained, opening his backpack to grab the vouchers, "Runar had something to take care of downstairs, so in the meantime, we''ll build some more parts for the spirits."


    "Ooh! Can I help?" Liam asked, and Ryan nodded immediately.


    "Of course. Do you want to go into my room and grab the plastic sorting boxes on my desk?"The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Liam didn''t even hesitate as he jumped up, rushing out of the living room as Ryan grabbed the first voucher. It was Gregor''s ''arm'' vouchers. Since he was the most curious about what this even meant, Ryan tore both of them at the same time


    <hr>


    [Two Random Arm Vouchers have been Redeemed - Two random Arms have been awarded]


    -[High-Powered Drill Arm]


    -[Precision Assembly Arm]


    <hr>


    Ryan raised his brow as the two expansion boxes appeared in the space between the domains. High-powered drill? Precision assembly?


    He quickly pulled both boxes out onto the table in front of him, taking a closer look at the box art. Each one just showed off a different arm that was almost identical to the ones Gregor already had, simply replacing the hand with something else. One of them had, as the name suggested, a rather large drill as its hand, while the other one''s hand had ten extremely thin and long fingers arranged in a circle on a round base plate.


    "Well, alright... So we''ll have some replacement arms for you, huh?" Ryan said, looking at Gregor. But for some reason, the automaton shook his head.


    "What do you mean?"


    Slowly, Gregor held up one of his hands, showing four fingers, and another one, showing two fingers. He held the two hands together, and Ryan quickly understood.


    "So... they''ll be added on? Like, you''ll have six hands?"


    Gregor quickly nodded his head. Ryan was pretty curious about that, but he couldn''t help but be a bit hesitant about that. There weren''t any more slots on Gregor''s body to fit more limbs into, so how was that supposed to go? Well, either way, he should be able to figure it out once the arms were properly constructed.


    While Ryan took the frames out of the first box, Liam returned with the plastic sorting boxes and sat down on the ground next to the coffee table, "So, what can I do?"


    "I''ll take the parts off the frames, and then you put them into the right part of the sorting boxes, alright?"


    Liam excitedly nodded his head as Ryan took his tools from his backpack. Though, before he did, he realized that building everything would still take a while.


    "Gaia, do you want me to get you the new seeds before I start? That way you can try to plant them upstairs already," Ryan suggested. The golem stepped up with an excited demeanour, so Ryan quickly grabbed Gaia''s vouchers and tore both of them at the same time.


    <hr>


    [Random Seed Voucher has been redeemed - Three Random Seeds have been awarded]


    -[Pixie Lily Seeds]


    -[Furious Orchid Seeds]


    -[Strength Pumpkin Seeds]


    [Random Sapling Voucher has been redeemed - One Random Sapling has been awarded]


    -[White Cherry Tree Sapling]


    <hr>


    Ryan took out the seed packets and gave them to one of the sub-golems, while he gave Gaia herself the cherry tree sapling. The golem made her way outside, and Ryan got started. Ryan activated his ''Spirit Construction'' skill, and started quickly taking apart the frames. Liam was able to follow along pretty well, quickly taking the parts that Ryan removed from the frames and putting them into the right part of the sorting boxes.


    Of course, not all of the parts were in frames, some of them were in separate small packets like the rest of Gregor''s body had been. That was why preparing Gregor''s models didn''t really take that long, and Ryan was able to take both apart in just a couple of minutes. And then, it was time for Ryan to really try and figure out which of these parts had to go where. The pipes, motors, screws, bolts; they all had to be properly put into the correct position for Gregor''s new arms to actually function.


    Liam was also pretty curious, but he didn''t understand any of what was in front of him. Ryan remembered that Liam even treated the TV as something completely new and foreign; he was practically raised in a completely medieval environment for some reason. It still infuriated Ryan, but now it was better to just focus on how to help Liam adjust to things and introduce him to new concepts. And these sorts of ''machines'' were also something new to Liam, so Ryan did his best to explain how all of it worked.


    Liam leaned on the table and watched as Ryan pushed all the right parts into place and screwed the tiny screws into their sockets. He let the oil drip into the right spots, clicked the joints into place, and then attached the wooden plating onto the outside. And before long, Gregor''s new arms were both finished, even before the skill''s first activation was over. It still had a minute on its timer.


    Ryan took the small arms and held them out to Gregor. He would know what to do with them, though Ryan also had a bit of an idea. In the parts where these arms should attach to a socket, they had a round plate with some sort of magic engravings on them. He should ask Runar about it later, but for now, he just had to make sure that he had the right idea.


    Gregor took his new arms and held them over his shoulder, and Ryan could feel a spark of mana from the automaton as he linked with the arms. These arms started floating behind him, with only a small gap between Gregor''s back and those magic engravings.


    The arms seemed to be solidly set into place, and Gregor made use of them quite skilfully right away. He flipped open one of the wooden plates on his drill arm and took out a drill-bit that he then attached to the tip of the actual drill part. He turned it on momentarily and seemed quite happy.


    His other new arm as well, those extremely thin fingers were able to move with a dexterity even greater than Gregor''s fingers usually did, and it was an extreme pleasure to watch. Though, as that was happening, Ryan could feel a tingle on his arm. Tiar was reacting to the arms, and a thought popped into Ryan''s head. Or rather; an idea.


    "... Do you think you could build those as well?" Ryan asked, and Tiar quickly replied with a large smile emoticon.


    "Wait, you can get floating arms like that?" Liam''s eyes were practically sparkling, as Ryan shrugged.


    "We''ll see, maybe. It''s worth a try at least, right?"


    Just then, Ryan''s ''Spirit Construction'' skill ran out, and a message popped up in front of him.


    <hr>


    [The -Spirit Construction- Skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    Ryan didn''t even have to hesitate before he pulled up the skill window. It should have finally reached level 10, and that often came with slightly bigger effect upgrades.


    <hr>


    [Spirit Construction]


    [Level - 10]  [Proficiency ¨C 2%]


    [Allows the user to construct the Spirits¡¯ physical bodies]


    [Effect ¨C Spirit Construction for 29 Minutes; 10% Boost to Dexterity]


    [Cost ¨C 14.5 MP]  [Cooldown ¨C 1 Hour 15 Minutes]


    <hr>


    Though the additional cooldown was a little annoying, the 10% boost to his dexterity definitely made it worth it. That meant that Ryan''s dexterity was going to be in a true superhuman range whenever the skill was active.


    "Fuck yeah," Ryan grinned, realizing what he just said only a moment later. He glanced over at Liam, "Don''t say stuff like that."


    "What? No fair!" Liam clicked his tongue, as Ryan let out a laugh.


    "Right, right, don''t worry. Anyway, I''ll go upstairs and help Gaia out until I can use the skill again, and then we''ll build some more stuff. Sound good?"


    "Alright!" with an excited nod, Liam jumped back up onto the couch as Ryan put his tools back into his box. Liam started watching something on the television, while Ryan made his way to the rooftop garden, with a broad smile on his face.


    Liam was acting more and more like an actual kid his age, and it was really just wonderful for Ryan to see. He climbed up the metal stairs and quickly saw Gaia, already busily working away. Ryan rolled up his sleeves and walked up to the greenhouse, where Gaia was currently preparing the new seeds. The sapling was still sitting on the counter next to her.


    Gaia quickly noticed Ryan coming over and seemed happy for the help, as Ryan started walking around the garden to assist the golem in planting the new seeds and sapling.

 86 - Change of Plans

    Ryan sat on a chair in the corner of the rooftop garden. There wasn''t anything for him to do right now, so he was just watching Gaia work. The golem was always extremely excited whenever she was up here. But there was something that Ryan was also quite excited about up here; the copper wildflowers were close to blossoming. Apparently, it would just take another week or two for their petals to unfold. It should be right after Spirit Week. Annoyingly, Runar said that he was only able to analyse exactly what magical effects the wildflowers had once they blossomed and that power properly manifested. Gaia''s ''Garden Golem''s Eye'' skill also only gave information related to what a plant needed to grow, what season they grew in the best, what nutrients they were currently lacking, and how far along their growth period they were.


    Basically, the information related to the growth and nurturing of the plants, and not what you could do with them afterward. That information might evolve in the future, though, but for now this was the extent of the skill, so they had no real way to figure out what the deal with these actually was.


    Ryan leaned back in his chair and let the light of the sunset hit his skin. Days were way too short these days. University was going to start back up pretty soon as well. The semester itself started in less than two weeks, but there was still a bit of a break period where there were no classes for a couple of weeks. Then, Ryan would have to deal with stuff that really didn''t even interest him again. Plus, he''d have completely new classes, and didn''t share any with either Modak or Silvia, so it might all be pretty boring.


    "Then again... I could just try and switch my track over..." Ryan whispered to himself. That was always an option. Right now, he was studying to get a business degree, though that was frankly just because it was the easiest track to get into, since there were no real admission restrictions. But now that he was an Awakened, especially an Awakened with a ''unique'' class as far as the University was concerned, Ryan could probably somehow get into any track that he wanted.


    "... I could try and get into the Spirit Studies track... The first semester was only general education stuff anyway, so the credits probably transfer," Ryan thought to himself, pulling out his phone. The sun made it kind of hard to read the screen, though.


    Ryan navigated to his New Riverside University''s homepage, navigating to the info about the ''Spirit Studies'' track before downloading the course handbook. Most of the classes actually sounded pretty interesting.


    History classes, both general history as well as history how it related to spirits specifically in later semesters; classes about magic, mystical anatomy, spiritualistic concepts, cultural studies, and then a whole bunch of electives that all seemed to have pretty interesting names at the very least.


    However, it was the kind of class that would usually lead more into academics rather practical work, which Ryan really wasn''t interested in at all. But with his class being related to spirits, learning more about them was a good idea. Plus, he basically had a safe job lined up for after university now, so he didn''t even need to worry about whether or not his degree would be useful. But as he thought about this, a realization came to Ryan. If he wanted to change his track, then he had to talk to his mother about it.


    She would most definitely support him no matter what choice he made, but the idea was still a bit nerve-racking. But even so, running this by his mother before making a decision felt like the right thing.


    Ryan dialled his mother''s number and waited for the call to connect.


    "Hey, mom," he said, leaning back in his seat.


    "Hi, honey! How are you?" his mother replied with what was basically an audible smile.


    "I''m well! I just reached level 10 earlier today."


    Mary was silent for a few moments, clearly processing what she just heard, "Really? Already? You''re not overworking yourself, are you?"


    Ryan opened his mouth, ready to calm his mother down and tell her that he wasn''t overworking himself. But that wasn''t really true. Right now was one of the few moments he''s had to just chill for a bit, "... A little bit. But... you know I have a unique class, right? And some guys from Bluesky were interested in buying it."


    "Wait, you''re not planning on selling your class, are you?"


    "No! No, not at all. It''s the opposite, actually," Ryan calmed her down, "Basically, the way that the class trading thing works is that a class has to be below level 10 to be traded. They were being incredibly, disgustingly pushy, so I''ve been trying to reach level 10 so I can get them off my back."


    "Pushy? What do you mean, pushy? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"


    Ryan could hear his mother''s concerned voice. He has been getting hurt quite a lot, though it wasn''t because of Bluesky, "I''m fine, mom, don''t worry."


    "... Are you sure?"


    "Yes, I''m sure," he said, trying to reassure her, "But listen, this isn''t the only reason I''m calling, but... I know you suggested I get a business degree, but now that I''ve awakened, I..."


    "Do you want to drop out? Do you have any work you could be doing?" Mary immediately assumed.


    Ryan sighed lightly, trying to find the right words. He didn''t think he should just tell his mom all about the secret society involved with the Aglecard family. He wanted to, of course, but that would mean he also had to explain things about his dad. Ryan still didn''t understand his father''s motivations at all, and especially the ''Spirit Seal Recovery'' skill completely messed with what he had assumed until literally earlier today. He just didn''t want to drop that kind of knowledge onto his mother without knowing what the actual truth was.


    "I''m not planning on dropping out, but I do have some work lined up that I''ll probably start getting into soon already, in a part time capacity while classes are going on obviously. It''s a bit complicated, but I''ll explain it to you soon. But... I wanted to see if I can change my university course."


    "Oh? Can you just do that?"


    "I mean, I can probably just enrol in another course. I might not be able to transfer all the credits, but some of them, I''m sure," Ryan explained, "Plus, my university supports Awakened a ton, so it should be possible?"


    "Really? So what course are you thinking, then?"Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Spirit Studies."


    "Is that... something you can find work in after?"


    "Well, no, not directly, but again, I''ve got a job lined up, plus I''ve got a unique class, so I''m not struggle getting a job in the future," Ryan pointed out, trying to calm his mother down, "But my class is related to spirits, so I just want to learn more about them. I''m literally a ''Spirit Keeper''... ''Spirit Studies'' are obviously more useful to me than a business degree, right?"


    "In that case, if you''d rather get a degree in that, as long as your job is fine with that, I think you should do whatever you want," Mary pointed out, and Ryan let out a relieved sigh. He knew that his mother would react like this, at the end of the day, but you never knew.


    " Oh!" Mary let out, "I just remembered, but our company building is going through renovations soon, so we''ve been given some bonus time off throughout Spirit Week."


    "Oh..?" Ryan started, already knowing what was about to come next.


    "I was thinking it would be great to come visit you! I heard the Spirit Week celebrations in New Riverside are absolutely beautiful. And it would be great to meet your new friends!"


    Ryan closed his eyes momentarily. He somehow didn''t have a great feeling about this, but consciously, there wasn''t any reason against his mom coming for a visit. Nothing was actively wrong right now, but this gut feeling that something could happen at any moment still made Ryan nervous as hell.


    "Sure, uhm... I''ll talk to Runar about if we can have you lodge up here."


    "Oh, nonsense, I can get a hotel! I know you don''t have a ton of space there," Mary pointed out, but Ryan immediately shot her down.


    "Mom, seriously, it''s fine. You can sleep in my room, and then I''ll sleep on the couch, it''s fine. If you really want to get a hotel, I guess we can figure that out, but it''s fine to stay here. I doubt Runar will say anything about it either."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Are you insane? You want your mom to come here? Right now?" Runar asked, staring at Ryan who just stood there, completely confused.


    "What? Yeah, why not? Is there a problem with that?"


    "Well, not a problem, I guess, but you''ve got so many eyes on you right now. It would be crazy to drag Mary into that."


    Ryan let out a long, deep sigh, sitting on the chair in front of his desk, "I know that things could happen, and yeah, I don''t have the best feeling about this stuff either. But what do you want me to do, never see my mom again? Like, is it ever gonna be ''safe'' for me?"


    Looking at his nephew, tapping his foot on the ground, Runar sighed, "It''s not about never seeing her again. But what, do you want to tell her about the family as well?"


    Ryan shook his head, "No, not particularly. Not yet, at least. At some point, when I''ve got a better feeling of what the hell all of this even is, I guess. Because I don''t want her to get involved in dangerous stuff either."


    "And you''re sure you think it''s a good idea?"


    "Hah, yeah, no, not at all. But it''s been half a year since I''ve seen her, and frankly, I miss my mom a bit. And she obviously misses me too, so what am i supposed to do?"


    Runar groaned lightly, "Fine. I guess I''ll have to come up with an excuse as to why I suddenly adopted a kid. Where''s she staying?"


    "Here. As in, my room."


    "Ryan, you know I can get her the best hotel room in the city, right?"


    "Well, yeah, but that defeats the purpose of her being here," Ryan pointed out, "Plus, how are you going to explain to her how you can afford something like that? She still thinks you''re just the owner of a small caf¨¦. She wouldn''t let you pay for anything."


    "Urgh, I guess so. But if she''s sleeping here, where are you going to sleep?"


    "The couch, where else?"


    "You''re going to sleep on the couch? Isn''t that going to be uncomfortable for a week to sleep on such a small thing? You can''t even move around."


    Ryan narrowed his eyes as he looked at his uncle, "Are you... you know that''s a pull-out couch, right?"


    "... Huh?"


    "Yeah, it''s a pull out couch. I- You- What? How do you not know your own furniture?"


    "... I''m not gonna lie to you, but I was never up here a lot before you moved in," Runar pointed out, "I mean, I was here to take care of any guests that I had staying over temporarily, obviously, but otherwise I''d be in the caf¨¦ or in the basement. I don''t think I''ve ever sat on that couch, to be honest."


    "You should. It''s pretty comfortable," Ryan responded, and Runar scoffed.


    "Right, I guess so. But anyway, I guess that means you''re going to be showing your mom around during Spirit Week?"


    "Uh... yeah, I guess. I''m already looking up some cool stuff that''s going on that might be fun to look at," Ryan explained, and Runar grinned lightly.


    "In that case, I''ve got a few recommendations. On Thursday, so Kars'' day, the Magic Tower is doing a big thing here in old town, and that''s always pretty fun because they''re showing off a ton of new stuff. Oh and on Wednesday, Goria''s day, Lakeview always does massive celebrations. I''d actually suggest going down into the lake tunnels, but they''re usually pretty full. On Mondays and Tuesdays, Eastbanks is pretty fun, but there''s basically no place in the city that''s not sort of doing something for those days. But you know, Eastbanks is closer to nature, and that''s where most local farms are, so they just do a bit more for Regir and Mila''s days."


    Ryan immediately noted down what his uncle was telling him so that he wouldn''t forget it, "Alright, what about Friday through Sunday?"


    "Hm... Friday... I''d just say bring an umbrella, or wear a hood, just in case. You know, don''t want any birds bombing you. But there, I''d say any place in the city is fine? Though I guess areas with Avian species are usually a bit more excited those days. Oh, parks are great on Mugir''s days for the kites," Runar suggested, thinking about what else to do on the weekends, "Saturday in the Channel is pretty cool, to be honest. They kind of do a lot, surprisingly. Maybe because of the massive buildings, they can really just shut out all the light for Porsa''s day. And on Sunday... every district sort of does their own small end-of-week festival, and I''m usually here in the area."


    "Okay, that''s great. What about everyone downstairs, are you doing anything for them?" Ryan asked, and Runar''s light smile quickly dropped.


    "I... We kind of try to do something every year, but... it never really feels the same as up here."


    "Really? I mean, can''t you, like... I don''t know, organize something for them? They should be able to celebrate the Great Spirits'' blessings as well. I mean, I''m not really spiritual in that sense, I know, ironic, but I''m sure there should be some people downstairs that care about it. Right?"


    "Well, of course, but what are we supposed to do? In more rural areas, it''s different, but in New Riverside? One of the most densely populated cities in Riveria? That''s not really... viable."


    "But... they''re already cooped up down there. Plus, some of them are directly related to the great spirits."


    "... Huh?"


    "Like, the dryads are connected to Regir, for example. The sprites are connected to Porsa. Like, you know, they deserve to-"


    "Ryan, what are you talking about? Just because dryads are types of plants doesn''t mean they''re related to the great nature spirit, and the sprites aren''t related to the spirit of shadows either."


    Confused, Ryan raised his brows, "Uh... but, they are? I thought you said something like that? Like, Liam also has a connection to Porsa, but the vibe is a bit different, right?"


    Runar narrowed his eyes, "I don''t know what the hell you mean. I never said anything about the great spirits at all."


    "... But... they''re definitely connected, it''s obvious, right? Like, just look at them. And I don''t mean that in a ''look at what they look like'' type of way, but... you know, they clearly have a connection to the spirits."


    "I... I don''t know what you mean?"


    Ryan was about to complain that Runar was playing dumb, when a realization came to him. He never consciously recognized any of this, but the connection to the spirits just felt so obvious. When did he start to feel things like that?

 87 - New Armour Models

    "So, just explain it to me again."


    "Dude, I don''t know what you want from me, I just... It just feels obvious," Ryan replied, looking at his uncle with a loud groan, "I looked at them, and just sort of in the back of my mind, I thought ''Oh, those guys are connected to this great spirit, neat'', and then moved on, it didn''t even feel that big a deal to me."


    Runar narrowed his eyes, "Are you- How can that not feel like a big deal to you?"


    "I-" trying to stutter out a response, Ryan really didn''t know what to say. It wasn''t even a complete thought, it was at the same level of knowing that the sky was blue. It wasn''t anything you consciously thought about until it was brought up to you, but obviously you always knew that the sky was blue.


    "Listen, I frankly don''t know why this is so important. They''re magical species anyway, right? And it''s not like I''m saying that the great spirits created them, I''m just saying that they were probably influenced by the same stuff that the great spirits were born from," Ryan said, finally collecting his thoughts properly, "Like, look at Liam. I don''t know about other vampires, but he feels very distinctly related to shadows and darkness, but there''s a pretty clear vibe of blood in there as well."


    Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Runar sighed, "And you''re sure this isn''t just what you''re thinking based on what species they are? Everyone knows that vampires are related to blood and can''t deal with light, so darkness and blood are pretty obvious there, right?"


    "Well, yeah, but it''s different. It''s more like the vibe that I get when I look at, like, Maximus, Gaia, or Gregor''s mana."


    Runar looked at his nephew, thinking deeply, "It is true that the mana of magical species tends to have some sort of overlap and directions that their mana is more likely to go into. Vampire mana is more likely to be somehow related to darkness and blood, as you just said."


    "Huh? If you already know about this, then why are you so-"


    "Ryan, because you shouldn''t be able to know this. An innate sense of others'' mana is something that only a few dozen people possess at any time. Awakened can develop something like it, but that''s something for high-levelled magic classes. Yes, you''re technically a magic class, but that''s just a technicality. We both know you''re not a spellcaster or anything like that," Runar said very clearly, "And even if you did just happen to somehow unlock that innate sense of others'' mana, you didn''t point out the element or concept that their magic relates to, but the spirits of those concepts. Specifically the great spirits, Ryan. That is the weird part. It doesn''t matter if you don''t consciously think they''re related, subconsciously you obviously did, and that''s not... That''s not good."


    "Why is it not good? What does it matter? Even if, which, again, I don''t think is the case, the great spirits meddled a bit... so what? Again, seriously, it''s not a big deal."


    Taking a deep breath, Runar shook his head, "Yes, it is a big deal. Not only because that means that somehow, the great spirits have the power to influence evolutionary processes or genetic mutation, but also because that means that the shadows- it means that the shadows might already know about it. We''ve been wondering why they''re going after spirits all of a sudden, and..."


    Ryan widened his eyes as the realization came to him, "You think that if the White Shadow Society can turn public opinion against spirits, when they reveal how these magical folks came to be, they can use that to make people hate people with magical influences more easily?"


    "... Your intuition is starting to make you sound like a smartass, but yes," as he turned around, Runar clearly tried to hide the worry on his face, "But for now, just don''t worry about it. Just focus on building the rest of the stuff you got from the gift shop."


    "Right. Sorry, I didn''t realize it was that important... like, thinking about it now, it feels pretty obvious that I was being dumb for not telling you, but... I don''t know if I even..."


    "Don''t worry, it''s not like you did anything bad. Just take it easy, alright? You deserve it now. Oh, and make sure you call your Awakened Centre rep to tell her you reached level 10, you need to get your level updated as soon as possible."


    "Yeah, yeah..." Ryan responded, before yelling out to Liam, "Yo, Liam, I''m going to work on the rest of the models now!"


    It took just a few moments for the young vampire to arrive, ready to help out again. Of course, Ryan didn''t really need Liam''s help, but he had promised to let him join in when his skill cooldown was over.


    "So, what will we make next?" Liam asked, his back straightened while looking at Ryan curiously. In the time the skill was cooling down, Liam had gotten a bit closer to his whole ''King'' act again. Ryan didn''t mind, though.


    "The rest of the stuff is for Maximus. A weapon and an armour piece," Ryan explained, though he had three vouchers laying in front of him, not just two. There were two things that Ryan had to build, but one of the vouchers was for something new for Gregor.


    Ryan grabbed that voucher and tore it. As the small ticket disappeared, something appeared again in the space between the domains; a rolled-up piece of paper.


    <hr>


    [Random Blueprint Voucher has been redeemed - One Random Blueprint has been awarded]


    -[Fortified Grenade Launcher Blueprint]


    <hr>


    Ryan pulled out the blueprint, quickly looking over to Gregor who was seated on the ground, creating a large number of parts from the materials that they had given him. Of course, with the parts already created, building the actual machine would be a lot faster. That being the case, Gregor was also getting through a ton of alcohol, despite his small size. Ryan knew that it was getting absorbed by Gregor''s spirit core, so he didn''t need to worry about where it all fit in Gregor''s body, but it was still a bit concerning. He was clearly getting pretty drunk.


    Even so, since he was an automaton, it probably was a little less concerning. After all, he wasn''t hurting himself, plus he was actually only getting faster and more skilled the more drunk he got. Ryan held out the rolled-up blueprint toward Gregor, who quickly stood up and came to take a look. He unrolled the paper and glanced over the blueprint, before the paper fell apart.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    <hr>


    [The -Fortified Grenade Launcher- Blueprint has been registered]


    <hr>


    "Great! Gregor, can you prepare one of them? That would be a good chance to see what happens when you go over your limit for concurrent machines," Ryan suggested, and Gregor nodded his head. Luckily, he seemed to have everything that he needed here already. Runar had come and given Gregor a bunch of different materials and just stacked them up in Ryan''s room so that the automaton could grab them whenever he wanted.


    He nodded and quickly got started, while Ryan himself quickly tore the last two vouchers.


    <hr>


    [Random Weapon Voucher has been redeemed - One Random Weapon has been awarded]


    -[Flesh-Tearing Dagger Ripper]


    [Random Armour Voucher has been redeemed - Three Random Armour Pieces have been awarded]


    -[Cybernetics Model - Left Leg]


    -[Dullahan Model - Torso]


    -[Paladin model - Torso]


    <hr>


    "... Okay?" Ryan let out quietly, not having expected basically any of the parts that he was given. Flesh-Tearing? Cybernetics? Dullahan? The Paladin armour was a bit more in the realm of what made sense to Ryan, but even so, Maximus'' range was almost startling.


    The fact that the armour voucher gave three armour pieces in the first place was pretty surprising, but it definitely wasn''t something Ryan was complaining about. Ryan pulled out the four boxes. The one for the dagger ''Ripper'' was actually quite small, so Ryan doubted it actually had a ton of pieces. With that in mind, he quickly opened the back and took out the two small frames that were in here.


    "So, I''m actually going to do this one on my own real quick, alright? It''s very sharp and jagged, and I don''t want you to hurt yourself," Ryan said, looking over to Liam.


    "What? But you said you would let me help..."


    "Yes, yes, of course! You can help with the other three models here, and if you want, you can already take them out of the boxes, but this one is too dangerous. It''s a weapon, you know? And I wouldn''t be a good knight if I were to let you get hurt," Ryan tried appealing to Liam''s act, and though he grumbled lightly, he nodded his head in agreement.


    Ryan quickly took some pictures of the boxes so that he could reference the box art later, and then hurried to take the dagger''s pieces off the frames. There weren''t many pieces, so just as Ryan thought, building it didn''t take particularly long. Though he did have to be careful not to accidentally hurt himself. The edge of this dagger wasn''t straight, but it was like needles or thorns grew from it at random angles. The name of this weapon really made a lot of sense. Though, considering its size, it was more like... a skin-tearing dagger.


    With Maximus'' size doubled, and the dagger growing alongside him, it could certainly do some damage, but it was still too small for most opponents. But it definitely didn''t hurt to have in your arsenal, that was for sure.


    Ryan put the dagger together and held it over to Maximus, who had taken a break from his reading, before taking a look at the dagger. Just like with Granfell, he seemed to already be used to the way he had to handle this, even if the stance that he took on was much different to the way he normally moved and carried himself. Just from looking at him, Ryan could feel a more... brutal air around the knight, different to the usually so dignified way he acted.


    Maybe there was more to Maximus after all. Maybe he was a sort of amalgamation of all the different sorts of knights that existed. That would explain how and why he had so many different combat techniques and why he could apparently use every single weapon perfectly.


    Though, for now, Ryan had no way of verifying that, so he simply moved on, and quickly took the first set of frames that Liam had taken out of the boxes. It was the ''Cybernetics'' model, the one that seemed the most out of place.


    Frankly, if Maximus had a full suit of armour from this model, he would simply look like a robot. Like the kind that the robotics club built, not Gregor''s sort. There were lights and wires and all sorts of stuff that felt off when you thought about a ''Knight'', but that also made it pretty interesting.


    Sadly, this was just a leg. Ryan really wanted to see what Maximus would look like if he had every part. He should really hurry and buy the other two vouchers, though after that, they had to figure out something else.


    "Maximus, figure out a way to give me more quests. We should try to get you some more stuff," he grinned, quickly taking the parts out of the frames and handing them to Liam so that he could put them into the plastic sorting boxes, just as the two of them did before.


    But after taking the cybernetic model''s pieces off the frames, Ryan first moved on to the other two models as well. The Paladin model was a straight-up armour, but in a simple gold and white design and a slightly different shape than Maximus'' regular armour. The pieces seemed a bit thicker, too.


    The Dullahan armour, though, was different. It was made of bone and soot-blackened metal. The few pieces of cloth and leather that were left were completely torn. But the only thing that Ryan really wondered was exactly who or what the bones came from. Were they just magically created from nothing? Ryan honestly hoped so.


    The actual construction of the pieces was very straightforward and much easier than Gregor''s parts, though he still had to wait out another cooldown to use the skill again and finish the Dullahan armour in the end.


    "Alright, Maximus, want to try them out? I would have to take your spirit core out momentarily, though," Ryan explained as he put his tools away, and the knight quickly nodded his head. There were still twenty minutes left on the skill now, so they could try out all of them without worry. Right now, Maximus was wearing only the knight model parts. The crusader parts were a bit too bulky. So, for now, Ryan quickly swapped out Maximus'' left leg for the cybernetic model leg.


    Maximus tried to move, but his steps were awkward and jagged, like his cybernetic leg was moving faster than his regular leg.


    And double-checking Maximus'' stats like this, his resistance had gone down a good bit, but his physicality increased a lot in return.


    "So the cybernetics model is more based on physicality? Maybe speed?" Ryan suggested, and Maximus nodded, feeling the same thing. Liam''s eyes were glistening as he looked at the mechanical leg moving around. But before the skill''s effect ran out, Ryan had to hurry and try out the two torsos. They required Ryan to take out Maximus'' core and then re-attach the limbs and head, and if possible, Ryan wanted to put Maximus back into the knight''s model torso afterward as well.


    "Alright, let me know if something feels off," Ryan said immediately, removing the front plate off the Maximus'' torso before pulling the spirit core out, and Maximus'' body went limp. He hurried to take the armour''s arms, legs, and head off and attached them to the paladin torso, and then quickly placed Maximus'' core inside of the paladin torso, quickly closing everything up.


    The spirit stood back up, trying to adjust to this armour for a few moments.


    "Does it feel any different?" Ryan asked, pulling up Maximus'' status window again. The paladin model seemed to have a bit higher resistance, but not by a large margin. So, instead, Ryan felt like there might be something else to this.


    Maximus nodded immediately, but didn''t seem to know how to communicate this to Ryan, so he instead just pulled Granfell out of his domain before jumping down onto the ground. He started to swing the sword around, and Ryan could see a soft, white light envelop the blade.


    "Oh, can you imbue your attacks with holy energy?"


    Maximus quickly nodded, and Ryan grinned lightly, "Hm, is that so? Well, that''s useful. According to Runar, there''s quite a few undead in the dungeon''s haunted house section."


    The knight seemed to quickly catch on, nodding in excitement. However, they still had another part to try out. After doing the whole thing again, the Dullahan armour seemed to have the same stats as the paladin armour, and Maximus was able to imbue Granfell with an opposing energy to what he had just done. An energy of death. Which, of course, was something that was extremely effective against, well... any living being.


    That meant that, if they could plan ahead well enough, it should be possible to boost Maximus'' attacks extremely well.

 88 - Tense Air

    The car came to a halt in front of the Awakened Centre, and Ryan stepped out as he signed ''Thank You'' to Yamada. She responded with a smile, pulling away from the sidewalk as she couldn''t park here. Ryan would text her later to let her know he was done.


    As Ryan stepped inside the building, he almost immediately noticed the young man sitting in the corner of the room, waiting for someone. Since Ryan still had time before his appointment with Aurora, he figured he might as well say hello.


    "Yo, Michael," Ryan said with a slight wave, and the young mage almost immediately jumped up.


    "Ryan! How are you? What are you doing here?" Michael asked, a broad smile on his face. Almost like a puppy, he rushed over to Ryan.


    "Just getting my level updated," Ryan replied, and Michael''s brows shot up.


    "Oh! Same as me, then! I just levelled up yesterday," he pointed out smugly, "What level did you reach?"


    "I''m level 10 now. I rushed a bit because I was trying to get the Bluesky guys off my back that wanted to buy my class from me. They''ve been getting super annoying."


    Michael''s smile immediately dropped, "You''re already level 10? I thought you said you were level 4 just a couple weeks ago!"


    "Uh... yeah. Again, I was rushing things a bit," Ryan explained, scratching his cheek a bit awkwardly, "Oh, and I awakened some new stats too, so I have to get those tested here as well."


    "... You... you already awakened new stats?"


    Ryan cleared his throat, seeing how dejected or jealous Michael seemed, "Uhm, yeah, anyway, so what''s your level? It sounds like you''re not level 10 yet, so why are you getting things updated?"


    Michael let out a long sigh, "I have to come here every time I level up. Because of the growth rate of my mana stat, it needs to be remeasured every single time to make sure that I don''t mess anything up because of my low spirituality stat..."


    "Ah..." Ryan understood that pretty well. Michael''s magic was ridiculously strong and he clearly struggled to control it properly. In cases like this, it was relatively normal for the Awakened Centre to keep track of an Awakened like this.


    "Well, how''s that going, then? Is your control getting a bit better?"


    "Slightly? I do try and train my spirituality a ton, but apparently because my spirituality is so low, any sort of progress is counted as a lot of progress so I actually level up too fast and can''t train my other stats before my mana increases again..."


    "Ah..." Ryan could imagine the struggle of that. For him, any increase was amazing, but in Michael''s case, his massive amount of mana was a danger to himself and others, so having his mana increase at a pace that he can''t keep up with was the opposite of what you would want, for obvious reasons, "Have you spoken to any other mages around you? Maybe they have a good way to help you out. Or maybe they can seal your mana away for a bit, that should be possible, right?"


    "... I don''t really know any other mages. I just come here after school to use the training facilities and use the instructional videos."


    Ryan closed his eyes for a moment. Of course, Michael was still going to school, so he probably didn''t even have that much time to worry about training all too much. Though, that must make it even tougher for him. Ryan knew what it was like to go to school and have an Awakener pop up. Everyone would swarm them and ask to see their skills. He was the same back when someone a couple of grades above him awakened.


    "Hm, what about Alicia? Have you tried reaching out to her? Maybe she could get you some help for that," Ryan pointed out, but Michael shook his head.


    "I tried, but I couldn''t reach her. Her assistant told me that I need to raise my control a bit more before I can work with them..."


    Ryan frowned. That sounded about right, but it also showed Ryan the clear favouritism that Alicia was showing toward him and his friends. Modak was just hired out of nowhere and given his own research team to lead, even if that team was just made up of two people. Either way, seeing how other people were treated when they clearly needed help was a bit annoying to Ryan.


    With a slight sigh, he patted Michael on the shoulder, "I''ll try to see what I can do and text you afterward, alright?"


    "Wh-What? You don''t have to, it''s totally-"


    "Sorry, I''ve got to go, Aurora is here," Ryan replied, turning around toward the elevators.


    Michael looked to where Ryan was looking, but was just confused as he didn''t see anyone there at all. But a moment later, the elevator doors slid open and the owl-woman Aurora stepped out.


    Michael was a bit taken aback, "How did you-"


    "I''ll text you later, alright? Keep it up, man, I know you got this," Ryan smiled at Michael and turned around, heading over to Aurora. She was about to look around for Ryan, but he already stood in front of her.


    "Ah, Mister Aglecard, perfect timing! Are you ready for your re-measurement?" Aurora asked, and Ryan quickly nodded his head.


    "Yup, I''m so ready to finally get Bluesky off my back."


    Aurora seemed a bit confused, tilting her head to the side, "Excuse me?"


    "Ah, well... I told you before that I was having trouble with Bluesky, right? But now that I''m level 10, I won''t have to deal with that anymore. The whole ''class trading'' thing doesn''t work on me anymore now."


    Aurora''s eyes widened, similarly to how Michael''s had just a few minutes before. She cleared her throat, "Did I hear you correctly? You have reached level 10? Already?"This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Mhm. I thought I mentioned that when I made the appointment..."


    "I don''t recall that, no... I just assumed you would like to measure the growth trajectory of your stats," she pointed out, but Ryan just laughed somewhat awkwardly.


    "Uh, yeah, no that''s not it. Sorry if I wasn''t clear enough. But there''s no problem, right? The process is the same either way, isn''t it?"


    "Yes, of course. My apologies, I was just a little surprised, that''s all," Aurora pointed out, quickly guiding Ryan down the nearby hallway, "It is basically the same to the initial stat measurements you have already undertaken before, but since we already have your initial data, it should be finished a little faster."


    The two of them walked into a small room together. Ryan was in here before as well. There were different measurement instruments in here to test out some different stats. But there was part of this that might change the fact that it wouldn''t take quite as long.


    "Ah, actually, I happened to have awakened two more stats as well. I guess those need to be measured too, right?"


    "Oh, you have? Two more? You must have been rather busy, Mister Aglecard."


    "You can say that again, it''s been a rough couple of weeks," Ryan laughed quietly, waiting as Aurora set everything for the measurements up properly.


    "I can imagine," she laughed slightly, "Would you like to tell me which stats you have unlocked, and explain the details of your new skill to me? And if possible, please show me the skill"


    "Right, of course," Ryan replied, taking off his jacket in preparation for the stat measurements, as he asked Maximus to step out of his domain.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan poured the milk foam over the espresso. He had gotten pretty good at drawing pictures into the milk with the coffee, and that was the case even before he awakened. Now, with his dexterity as high as it was, Ryan was able to put whatever he wanted onto here. His dexterity applied to a lot of things that he did that related to his hand-eye coordination. He was never bad at drawing, but now, he could put basically whatever he wanted on paper. Ryan obviously wasn''t as good as Silvia, but he was much better than he was just a month ago.


    He was also much, much better at playing games, typing things on his computer or phone, or, as he was doing just now, doing random things like drawing latte art. When he was done, Ryan placed the coffee onto the small carrying platter together with an ice cold caramel Frappuccino that already looked far too sweet, as well as two small slices of cake. Taking a deep breath, preparing to step into the thick air that was currently filling the corner of the caf¨¦, Ryan walked around the counter and approached the table where Silvia and her birth mother were currently talking. Or rather, where they were supposed to be talking. Both of them were completely silent. But somehow, the silence itself was screaming out to anyone that wanted to pay attention. It wasn''t comfortable in any sense of the word.


    "Here you go," Ryan said, placing everything onto the table, "Do you need anything else?"


    As he asked this, he was very much looking at Silvia, who has been staring at him like she needed his help this whole time.


    "No thanks, honey," Silvia''s birth mother said with a light smile on her face, looking up at him, "You were one of my Silvia''s friends, right?"


    Already feeling the awkwardness of the situation, Ryan glanced over at Silvia, who was staring at the elven woman with a deep glare, "Excuse me? ''Your'' Silvia? Just to make it clear, we aren''t meeting here to reconnect as mother and daughter. Silvia Redhorn is here to meet Lilianna Oaklin, because Lilianna Oaklin has been essentially stalking her for weeks."


    Lilianna looked at Silvia with a slight frown, "Now, don''t be like that, I''m just trying to make up for the faults of my past."


    "Make up for- I''m sorry? You can''t make up'' for anything you did to me. I''m... how can you even...?" Silvia said, clearly absolutely baffled by what this woman was saying.


    "I-"


    "No, actually, you don''t get to talk yet. What makes you think that you get to do this? That you somehow have the right to just barge into my life, after you had the galls to ruin everything? You never treated me as a daughter back when you had the chance, so why now? Why would you come to me now that I was finally able to start moving on?"


    Lilianna stared at Silvia, clearly not sure what to say.


    "You can talk now," Silvia said, grabbing her caramel Frappuccino and taking a sip. Lilianna averted her gaze slightly.


    "I know I made mistakes in the past. I did things that hurt you, and made choices that can never be taken back, but I atoned for those sins. I did my time. By now, I... I just want to be a family again."


    By now, Ryan realized that this situation was not something he should just be listening in on. He briefly patted Silvia on the back, and quickly made his way back behind the counter to help out other customers. But the young elf was just completely stunned right now. And then, she just started laughing.


    "Family? Seriously? You want to be a family again? You fucking lost that right more than a decade ago," Silvia said clearly, "I''m sorry for being so blunt about this, but how could you be stupid enough to believe that we could be a family again?"


    Lilianna slammed her hands on the table, standing up with a deep glare directed at Silvia, "How dare you talk to your mother that way?!"


    Other customers in the caf¨¦ started looking over toward them. Silvia noticed, but she didn''t really care right now. She was getting quite riled up as well.


    "I would never talk to my mother like that! Good thing she''s not here. My mother is at work right now," Silvia responded, but Lilianna just sighed loudly.


    "While I am grateful to her for taking care of you while I couldn''t, that woman is not your mother. I am your mother. And now that I''m back and I paid for my crimes, we can just go back to the way things used to be," Lilianna explained, pushing her hands into her bag to look for something. A moment later, while Silvia was too overwhelmed to respond, Lilianna grabbed an old doll from the bag, holding it out to Silvia, "Please. Let''s just leave the past where it belongs, so we can move forward together. Let''s be mother and daughter again."


    Silvia slowly reached out to the doll. It was her favourite, and only, toy as a child.


    "Are you... are you serious?"


    "Of course. Come on, sweetheart, it can just be the two of us again. Alright?"


    Lilianna tried to grab Silvia''s hand, but she swatted it away immediately, jumping off her chair, "How delusional can you be? I- I don''t get it, what makes you think that you could just come here and expect things to go back to the way they were? In the first place, why would you even want things to go back to the way they were? Our life was absolutely horrible, and that was literally nobody''s fault but your own."


    Looking around, finally realizing that there were other people in the caf¨¦, Lilianna tried to grab Silvia''s arm, "Let''s just calm down. I know that life wasn''t perfect, but-"


    "Life wasn''t perfect? You made my life a living hell!"


    The disgust in Silvia''s eyes and voice couldn''t be hidden anymore. Ryan had come back around the counter, hoping to step in between Silvia and her birth mother should things go to far or get violent. Lilianna stood there, slowly looking down at the ground.


    "I-I don''t... I don''t know what else to do. I apologized, and I-"


    "You didn''t even do that! You never apologized, not that it would even really change things anymore! But you just showed up, and suddenly thought that you could put on an act like you were ever a good parent? No, a good person?"


    "... What did I do to make you hate me so much?"


    Silvia''s anger disappeared in an instant as she looked at the face of the woman in front of her. It was like a punch to the face that left her stunned and confused. Those genuine tears in Lilianna''s eyes, the tone of her voice that showed that she genuinely didn''t understand why Silvia was mad - it was completely and utterly disgusting.


    "What did you do? Do you want me to remind you?" Silvia asked, and Lilianna dared to respond with a nod, as tears started streaming down Silvia''s cheeks. She knew that there were people watching, but she didn''t even care anymore, "You fucking sold me to a cartel to in exchange for some drugs."

 89 - Not Those Kids Anymore

    Ryan heard Silvia''s words and his eyes widened. What did she just say? Her mother had done... what?


    Lilianna looked around nervously, seeing the stares of the other people in the caf¨¦. Whispering was becoming a clear background noise in the space, and the elf was becoming self-conscious about it.


    "Th-That''s not... that''s not how it happened, you know?" she stuttered out, trying to defend herself, "They just took you against my will, I-"


    "''And then, I had a thought. Why not give them the brat? That way she''d finally come in useful for once''," Silvia said, staring at the woman in front of her, "''But as it turns out, she really just messes up everything''."


    Lilianna''s face went pale, "I-I don''t... What are you saying?"


    "Those were your words. I saw the videos of you, dusted up, in the interrogation room. I heard every single word, and I will never be able to forget them. But I guess I do have to thank you, because that was the only way that I could have met my real family," Silvia grabbed her bag, and Ryan saw her hands shaking intensely. Knowing her, she would probably try to run off somewhere without knowing where to go or what to do. Silvia was like that when she got upset.


    Ryan stepped up to her and placed his hand onto her back. She flinched slightly, not having expected to be touched, but when she saw that it was Ryan she quickly calmed down, "Come on, just go upstairs. The door''s unlocked, I''ll be there in a second when Runar comes back."


    Silvia slowly nodded, tears in her eyes, as she rushed off behind the counter to make her way upstairs. Seeing this, Lilianna tried to run after her, but Ryan quickly blocked her way.


    "Please leave," Ryan said, glaring down at the woman in front of him, "You don''t have to pay, just please leave."


    But despite Ryan''s words, Lilianna didn''t seem particularly satisfied with that. She tried to push past Ryan, "What? No, I need to talk to her, I-"


    "I''m sorry, but I don''t want to repeat myself," Ryan said, trying not to get too emotional while facing this woman. He cleanly blocked her path, but the elf wasn''t as easy to pressure as he thought. Or rather, hoped.


    "I just... Please, I need to explain everything to her," Lilianna said, her desperation clearly written on her face. Ryan was actually pretty taken aback by how genuinely emotional she seemed to be. But maybe ''desperation'' was the wrong word. To Ryan, it was a different emotion; one that he had seen in the faces of people standing in front of him far too many times. It was fear. It was like she was afraid of what would happen if she didn''t get to finish her conversation with Silvia.


    But frankly? Ryan didn''t care. But there was an issue; Ryan really wasn''t the best at threats. He was better at actually acting on the things that others would say as threats. But being an Awakened, he couldn''t use violence on non-awakened without a good reason, aka self-defence, and even then, that was a thin line to walk depending on how high your stats were. But again and un-awakened elven woman that was two heads shorter than Ryan? There was no way he could ever feel good about starting a fight with her. So, he had to try and go for the ''threat'' route after all.


    The spirits were currently inside of their domains, since Ryan had just come back upstairs earlier from the subterranean refuge to meet Silvia here in the caf¨¦, just to find out that her birth mother was here with her. Runar also happened to just then have something to take care of downstairs, so he was here alone and had to take care of this without anyone else. That being the case, Ryan pulled Gaia out of her domain, simultaneously activating his newest skill, the ''Spirit Seal Recovery''.


    Luckily they had already managed to test this beforehand, so he knew how it would behave with Gaia''s body. Before the threads of green mana managed to settle into a solid form, they they seemed to split apart and attempt forming a whole other body. Gaia was more than a metre tall at her 1/10th scale,  so with the ''Spirit Seal Recovery'' skill active, she was towering over Ryan at around 2.1 or 2.2 metres. He would have to measure to be sure. The plants that had taken root in her body didn''t grow in size, but their coverage increased. It seemed like Gaia''s skill that linked her physical appearance to that of the garden didn''t make any ''actual'' plants grow on her. They were just representations created through mana that would grow and wither as the plants in the real garden did. As such, this was still the case as her size doubled in every direction.


    Moss was burrowing into the grooves of her body and thin roots were covering her like spiderwebs. Flowers that were so close to blossoming were growing on her shoulders, and even the two small saplings that Gaia had planted upstairs had already taken root in her body. To Ryan, she was truly beautiful, but in the eyes of someone that didn''t expect this sight, she was more startling than anything. After all, a massive golem had just appeared out of nowhere.


    Ryan looked at the woman in front of him, "As I just said. Please leave."


    Slowly but surely, now that Ryan had some support, Lilianna was more confused, startled, and scared, and had no choice but to leave. As she stood there, outside the caf¨¦, Ryan looked into her face and said one last thing very clearly, "Listen, if she wants to talk to you again, she will come to you, okay? I may not know her all that long yet, but I know her pretty damn well. Pushing her like this will make any hope you could ever have at reconnecting in any way worse. And seriously... get a grip and re-evaluate what happened in the past," Ryan said, stepping back into the door, "You''re banned from coming back here until Silvia says otherwise. So please stop loitering in front of the store."


    As he left the stunned Lilianna just standing there, Ryan pulled out his phone and texted Yamada and Anders who were standing around by the car outside, asking them if they could keep an eye on the elven woman he was just with. Anders replied with a thumbs-up emoji. Somehow, in a weird way, Yamada was actually more talkative than the dwarf.


    Ryan pushed his phone into his pocket and looked around at the other customers, clearing his throat, "I''m really sorry for the inconvenience, everyone."


    The other customers were looking at him a little nervously. Or rather, they were looking at Gaia, who he had clearly summoned to intimidate that woman just now. So, Ryan figured he should do something to calm them down, and at the same time, find a way so that he could join Silvia upstairs as soon as he could, "As an apology, my summon Gaia here will hand out some snacks for everyone. On the house, of course."Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    With a smile, while the customers were a bit confused, Ryan led Gaia behind the counter. Her footsteps were heavy, but this was an old, solid building and could easily support her weight here at the ground floor. Ryan hurried and grabbed something from the back. He could swear he saw an old pack of ''Caf¨¦ Runic'' branded aprons here for different species that probably worked here in the past when Runar could actually be bothered to hire outside help.


    There was one that fit larger species pretty well, which he quickly put onto Gaia in the back room while asking her to split off the sub-golems off of her. As she did, instead of two small boulders, three fell off her body. Her ''Garden Golem''s Division'' skill had levelled up, and now she was able to create three sub-golems. It didn''t even use up any more of her body to create the third one than before, like a bit of extra stone was just suddenly produced by magic, which of course made sense.


    The three sub-golems were also double the size, around 40cm tall each. They were given the smallest aprons Ryan could find, and they seemed to fit somewhat alright, though they might still have been a little too long, so Ryan folded them up a little bit and fixed them up like that with safety pins.


    He quickly grabbed a box of cookies that were supposed to be put into the baked-goods display next to the counter, and gave it to Gaia, "Alright, you hand them out, and I''ll go check up on Silvia, okay?"


    Gaia quickly nodded, seeming both excited and incredibly nervous. Ryan smiled, "Don''t worry, I''m not leaving you alone."


    Quickly, he activated his ''Spirit Link'' skill. It was level 13 now and could be active for around 14 minutes. It wasn''t long, but it was enough to make sure Gaia and the sub-golems properly handed out the cookies while also giving Runar the time to come back up from the basement before the skill effect ran out.


    Ryan quickly rushed upstairs while using the link to control the sub-golems in particular. He had gotten pretty good at doing that since going into the dungeon. He was sure that Gaia would be able to have them act properly with some practice as well, but she wasn''t the best around people right now, and tended to get a bit nervous when interacting with them for more than a few moments at a time, so Ryan figured he should take some pressure off her.


    But since the sub-golems could still act independently to some degree, even more so now that the division skill levelled up a bit, Ryan didn''t have to control them like marionettes, and could just make sure they didn''t mess anything up all too much.


    Ryan rushed up the stairs and got into the flat, immediately making his way to his bedroom. In there, Silvia was already covered in one of Ryan''s blankets, just creating a mound to protect herself with.


    Carefully, Ryan approached her, sitting down on the side of his bed, "You wanna talk?"


    Silvia pushed one of her hands through a gab in the blanket shell around her, pointing her thumb down.


    "You wanna be left alone for a bit?"


    Silvia hesitated, but just kept her thumb pointing downward.


    "Well, in that case, want me to sit out here, or are you gonna let me in?"


    Slowly, Silvia pulled her hand back inside the blanket, and then threw it up over Ryan''s head. With a sigh, he moved a bit closer, before Silvia placed her head onto Ryan''s shoulder. The two just sat there silently, with Ryan''s legs peaking out over the edge of his bed from underneath his blanket.


    He didn''t know what else to do but to just sit here. It felt like he should say something, but for once, he wasn''t confident in this gut feeling. It wasn''t the same kind of intuition that he usually felt, but more a sense of anxiety that was trying to push him to make sure he was doing the best he could for his friend.


    For a little while, the two of them just sat there, doing nothing, until Silvia took a deep, loud breath, throwing the blanket off the two of them.


    "Sorry, I just... needed a moment," she said, and Ryan just shook his head.


    "You''re fine, no need to apologize," Ryan replied, slowly standing up, "I, uh, I told her to leave. And that she wouldn''t be welcome back until you say so. I don''t know what your plan is from now on, so-"


    The young elf scoffed, "What, do you think I should try to forgive her or something?"


    Ryan immediately shook his head, "Oh, no, I''m not thinking anything at all. I don''t have any opinion beyond, you know... that my priority is that you''re alright in all of this," he pointed out, "If you think you want to keep meeting her, then sure, as long as you''re going to be okay, you have all my support. If you never want to see her again? Same thing. I don''t feel super great about abusing this, but Runar has some contacts in the police force, so we could make sure she can''t get near you again like that."


    Silvia hesitated, "Okay... uh... I don''t... I don''t know. I absolutely don''t want to see her again, but if we call the cops on her, she might go back to prison, and I don''t want that either."


    "If she goes back to prison, then that''s her own fault. You''re just trying to protect yourself," Ryan pointed out.


    "But..."


    "No, seriously, you don''t owe her any of this," he squatted down in front of the bed, "If my step dad showed up, asking for my forgiveness? Well, first, I guess I''d beat the shit out of him now that I actually can, and then I would turn around and call the cops on him and have him taken away. We don''t owe our abusers forgiveness."


    Silvia looked at Ryan, trying not to cry, "So what, I''m just supposed to hold onto this? I thought I could finally move on if I got to talk to her about everything, but... no, it just made everything a thousand times worse. I just feel so... dirty. Even being in the same room as her made me feel..."


    "... Like you were a kid again?"


    With a slow nod, Silvia looked down at Ryan, "Yeah, that''s exactly it. Like I was a kid trying to painfully get her attention that she only gave to me in the form of throwing empty bottles at me."


    "Yeah... those hurt a lot, huh?" Ryan laughed awkwardly, "But we''re not those kids anymore. Like I said before, I''d beat the shit out of my step dad, and I have no doubt in my mind that I could. I mean, maybe you can''t beat the shit out of her with those noodle arms, but..."


    "Oh, shut up," Silvia kicked her foot forward, lightly hitting Ryan''s shoulder as he was still squatting in front of the bed.


    With a laugh, he continued, "... but... you''ve definitely got her beat in everything else a dozen times over. We''re not those kids anymore. You''ve got an amazing family, an awesome girlfriend, two really fun and handsome best friends."


    Silvia laughed, "Yeah... I guess so."


    "Not denying the ''handsome'' part, huh?" Ryan stood up straight, a grin on his face, "I''ll take that. Anyway, uhm... I might have to go downstairs before Gaia accidentally breaks the coffee machine or drops any plates and mugs, so..."


    "You left Gaia alone down there?"


    "Hey, she''s doing an... okay job. But yeah, really, I should check up on her. You can stay up here if you want. There''s a literal ton of food in the kitchen, so just grab whatever you want if you get hungry. Or, and Liam should be home around 3, don''t let him push you around too much."


    Silvia nodded, "I''ll try. Thanks."


    "You got it."

 90 - Pain

    "Sorry, I was caught up in something else and only just saw your message, so-" Runar rushed out from the caf¨¦''s back room, almost immediately bumping into the boulder stood in front of him.


    Confused, he looked around, squeezing by, and quickly realized that this was indeed Gaia who was now towering over him. Three sub-golems were walking around the caf¨¦, serving the customers, while Ryan was actually making the drinks. And not just that, but the caf¨¦ seemed a lot fuller than normal.


    "Dude, finally, I texted you like an hour ago. I was getting worried," Ryan said, sighing loudly as he practically glared at his uncle.


    "... What''s going on? Why are you having Gaia take orders?"


    Ryan shrugged, "I needed someone to watch the store while I went to check on Silvia upstairs, so I linked with Gaia so that the place wouldn''t be abandoned. By the time I came back downstairs, some people posted about the ''Golem Caf¨¦'', and... well, more people showed up," he explained, "I told Gaia she didn''t have to stick around after that, but she said she wanted to keep helping out. I think she likes this kind of thing."


    Runar tied his apron behind his back, "Isn''t she busy upstairs?"


    "No, I mean, she already took care of everything. Since I unlocked both Stamina and Strength, I don''t go to the gym for quite as long, and we''re not worried about levelling up too much right now either, so... you know," Ryan explained, "The garden isn''t big enough for her to have a ton to do."


    "Hm... fair enough. But what is this about Silvia? Is she okay?"


    "... We''ll see. Anyway, for now, just come on and help out. Some tourist group stopped by after hearing about Gaia," Ryan explained, and Runar quickly nodded his head. He stepped up next to Gaia and started taking some orders. More people came into the caf¨¦ pretty soon, making this probably one of the busiest days in here in a good few weeks.


    But with the extra hands that Gaia provided, they were able to get through all the orders pretty quickly. Plus, it was a good way for Ryan to level up the ''Spirit Seal Recovery'' skill. With just a single spirit affected, Ryan''s passive mana recovery was higher than what the skill drained, so he could have it active for however long he wanted. Maybe he should have at least one spirit constantly ''unsealed'' to help level the skill up as soon as he could.


    It also had a secondary effect. Until now, all of Ryan''s skills drained the mana all at once in a fraction of a second to activate skills, but with this one, there was a constant flow of mana going from him to the spirits. It was like a slight tingling flowing through every cell of his body. It was a totally different sensation than before when Ryan awakened. Maybe because his Intuition stat was as high as it was now, it was like a whole other world. Now, if he could only control that mana... his Spirituality stat was there for a reason, and it was definitely at a point where he should be able to actually affect his mana with it.


    Ryan was pouring milk into the cup, seeing the small ripples and waves of the foam flow through the coffee. He felt the weight of the milk jug lighten, while the coffee cup grew heavier. Similarly, his mana began to ripple and flow through his veins. Lighter on one side, heavier on the other.


    Bit by bit, point by point, Ryan''s mana flowed through his body, speeding it. From his toes and his fingertips, through his heart, up his spine, into his mind.


    The world around Ryan went white and he could feel his legs give in. Or rather, maybe that wasn''t really the case. He just didn''t feel the weight of his body on his legs anymore, so he was startled for a moment. But when he came to, Ryan wasn''t in the caf¨¦ anymore. Everything was still just white, but it was different. Like this was an actual space. And then, he heard it. The sound of gravel being pushed around by heavy steps, as well as the sound of mechanical clicking.


    Ryan turned around, and saw three spaces unfold in front of him. One was basically empty; waving grass, some flowers here and there, and the edge of a tree coming into view. Another one was an old, dark workshop, with a six-armed figure clicking together some pieces of metal and wood. The third had an old, small hut, where a tall knight was swinging a massive sword at a training dummy. After every cut that practically tore it apart, the dummy simply repaired itself again before the next swing could come in.


    These were the domains, weren''t they?


    Ryan carefully stepped forward, approaching the domain that was closest to him. It was Maximus'' domain. His hand passed through the outer wall around the domain and simply passed through. It was like Ryan was pushing his hand through thin cobwebs, tickling his fingertips. The moment he stepped fully through, the sound of gravel being crushed stopped. Maximus saw Ryan suddenly stand inside the domain, and carefully approached him.


    For the first time, the tiny model knight appeared how he truly was; massive and towering. Ryan had no idea what species Maximus was supposed to be under that armour, but he definitely wasn''t a human. He was well, well above two metres tall, and the air that he gave off like this was truly intimidating. The spirit dropped his sword beside him, and stood in front of Ryan. Of course, if he didn''t know any better, Ryan would have been scared, but he knew exactly what Maximus was about to do.


    He spread out his arms and quickly swung his arms around Ryan, pulling him into a tight hug. The metal of Maximus'' armour was cold, but the hug itself was incredibly warm.


    "Yeah, yeah, I''m glad to see you too, buddy," Ryan smiled, looking around, "I didn''t know this was a thing. Did you?"


    Maximus immediately shook his head.


    "Do you remember anything now, like, did other Spirit Keepers do this kind of thing? Even if you don''t remember specifics, as long as this feels familiar..."


    It seemed like Maximus started thinking for a few moments, like he wasn''t particularly sure, and then just responded with a shrug.


    "Hm... Well, I don''t think it matters that much anyway. But it''s kind of neat that I can come visit you guys in here, huh? Maybe I can train with you at some point," Ryan suggested jokingly, but Maximus seemed incredibly excited at the idea. He picked up Granfell again and quickly pushed it into Ryan''s hands. The sword was still far too heavy for Ryan to do anything with at all, but it seemed like the knight still wanted him to give it a try. Before Ryan could say anything about it, though, he could feel an echo shake through the domain.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "Ryan? Ryan, are you okay?"


    It was Runar''s voice, and Ryan suddenly remembered the situation he was in when he came in here. He looked down at his hands, starting to feel a stinging pain surge through his left hand.


    "Oh, fu-"


    <hr>


    [Your Spirituality has increased by 0.04]


    <hr>


    The world around Ryan changed once again, and he was back in the caf¨¦. The cup was overflowing and steaming hot coffee and steamed milk was dripping down his fingers. He quickly placed the cup down and wrapped his hand in the towel hanging over his shoulder. Runar and Gaia were both looking at him extremely concerned.


    "Sorry, I... got lost in thought, I guess," Ryan apologized with an awkward smile, but Runar just clicked his tongue.


    "Got lost in thought? Just go upstairs, we have some high-potency anti-burn salve in the kitchen cabinet now, where we keep the first aid kit," Runar said, "I''ll come up in a second after I clean this up and help you out."


    "Nah, don''t worry. I can probably ask Silvia for help. I''ll... tell you about what just happened later."


    Runar frowned lightly, "Sure... Just call for me if you need my help. I''ll have Kula come over later as well."


    "Thanks," Ryan replied, quickly making his way upstairs. His hand hurt like hell was deep red. Luckily it was his right hand, and he didn''t accidentally pour the hot coffee over Tiar''s marks. Tiar was completely freaking out right now, though. It didn''t seem like they felt Ryan''s pain directly, but they could feel when Ryan was in pain, "Don''t worry, I''m alright. It''s just some blisters, but we''ve dealt with worse, haven''t we?"


    Tiar''s patterns waved around anxiously as Ryan pushed open the door to the flat, his other hand still wrapped in the towel. He quickly rushed into the kitchen, where Silvia and Liam were sitting together. It seemed like Liam somehow managed to convince Silvia to do his homework for him.


    "... So much for not letting him push you around."


    "He can be very convincing," Silvia sighed, while Liam just sat there smugly, "What''s up, what got you in such a hurry?"


    "Oh, I spilled some hot coffee on my hand. Mind helping me out in a second?" Ryan asked, and Silvia quickly jumped up.


    "Oh, shit, yeah alright. What do you need me to do?"


    "Just help me wrap my hand up with this," Ryan handed Silvia the tube with the anti-burn salve, and Silvia looked up at him.


    "Isn''t this the highest strength salve you can get? Why do you have something like this?"


    Ryan glanced over at Liam, who was looking around confused and startled. So, Ryan whispered to Silvia, "We have this in case Liam gets hurt. If his sunblock stops working, we need this to make the burns go down until we can him to a healer."


    "Ah..." Silvia let out, "That makes sense. Alright, just show me your-"


    Ryan unwrapped his hand, showing that it was covered in giant blisters all over. Taken aback, she stared at her friend, "You call this ''spilling some coffee''?"


    With a smile, Ryan glanced over at Liam and nodded his head, "Mhm. It''s nothing big, just a small blister. Right?"


    "R-Right... honestly, you''re kind of overreacting, aren''t you?" Silvia laughed awkwardly, trying to play along as she opened the tube and quickly squeezed it onto some gauzes, carefully pressing them onto the blisters until basically his whole hand was covered. Before Liam could come over and see what was going on, Silvia started wrapping Ryan''s hand in thick bandages.


    The cooling and pain-relieving aspect of the salve quickly set in, and Ryan let out a relieved sigh, "Much better. Thanks."


    Silvia looked at him nervously, "No problem... So what happened?"


    "Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?" Liam asked, and Ryan looked at him with a scoff.


    "This? Nay, it''s just a scratch," he replied, trying to play into the ''Knight'' act, but Liam didn''t seem particularly convinced. Even so, it seemed to work a little bit. But seeing the ball of bandages that was now Ryan''s hand, it was really rather hard to believe that this was nothing at all. After what happened in the Channel, Ryan tried whatever he could not to show Liam when he got hurt. With Kula waiting right outside the dungeon, that was a fairly simple matter, but this was something pretty unexpected.


    "Don''t worry, Silvia is just really, really bad at wrapping bandages," Ryan pointed out, sitting down next to Liam, "So, what have you two been working on?"


    Together, Silvia and Ryan kept helping Liam out with his homework, and really just spoke and hung out a bit while the pain in Ryan''s hand started subsiding.


    A little while later, Runar had closed down the caf¨¦ for the day, and Kula showed up. While Silvia kept distracting Liam, Ryan and Kula went into the living room while the white mage properly healed the burns on Ryan''s hand. The salve had cooled his hand down properly, and it wasn''t nearly as red anymore, but the blisters were still there and going strong.


    "Seriously, what was going on with you? You were just standing there, staring into space," Runar pointed out annoyed, "Are you okay? Is something happening with you that I should know about? You''re not on drugs, are you?"


    Ryan sighed and shook his head, "No, I''m not on drugs. I, uh... kind of had an epiphany, I guess? In the dungeon, I was too nervous to pay attention to it, but earlier, I was able to tell the flow of mana between myself and Gaia properly. And I suddenly became so aware of my mana and the magic that was happening in me, and I... I don''t know, just followed the flow of it and ended up inside of Maximus'' domain. Like, I was standing in front of him, and he was full-sized, and then I heard your voice, and apparently my Spirituality shot up by 0.04 or something."


    Runar turned his head toward Kula, as if to confirm that he just heard right, and Kula silently nodded. But in the end, Runar seemed relieved, dropping down onto a chair, "Oh, thank the gods. Yeah, no, this is good, something like this actually would have happened sooner or later."


    "Huh? You knew I could go into the domains?"


    "What? No, that part is a little surprising, but it''s probably just a different function of the Domain skill that you just didn''t know about before," Runar explained, "But basically, you just grew aware of your own mana. It''s a thing that every mage has to go through before they can use magic outside of the kind that is directly provided in the form of system skills."


    "Excuse me? So what, I can use magic now?"


    "I mean... yeah, I don''t see why not. We''d have to see what kind of magic you have a general affinity with, and then you''ll have to do a ton of studying and practice, but generally there was never anything stopping you from learning magic. It might actually be pretty useful, especially if it helps you unlock new functions of your skills," Runar explained, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "We''ll figure things out for that later if you want, but for now, just make sure to rest your hand. Seriously, like... take better care of them, will you? Your hands are really, really important."


    "Yeah, yeah, I get it. But it''s not a big deal, like, it hurt, but it''s not the worst-"


    "Ryan, seriously, are you okay?" Runar interrupted his nephew, "I thought this before, but you have an absolutely surreal pain tolerance. The resistance stat can do that sometimes as a side-effect, but you don''t even have that. Has this always been the case?"


    Ryan shrugged, "Well, kinda. I don''t really remember anything hurting too much. Getting shot was pretty bad, though."

 91 - New Perspective

    "Text me when you''re home," Ryan said with a smile as he sent Silvia off. Yamada pulled out of the parking lot and started driving Silvia home.


    Ryan turned back around and made his way back inside the flat. As he walked into the hallway, Runar was busy carrying around and sorting through books, bringing them into Ryan''s bedroom.


    "Uh... what are you doing?"


    "Hm? Just bringing you the stuff that you need to get into magic theory, as we spoke about," Runar replied as if it were obvious. Ryan just watched the stack of books grow as his uncle sorted through the books to decide which ones were more and which were less important for him, "Read this stack first, this is all the baseline stuff, and then you can choose the order between this stack and this stack, but you have to finish all the others before even getting started with the last one. Alright?"


    Ryan let out a long sigh, "Yeah, yeah, sure. I''ll get to it soon, don''t worry," he said, walking over to his bed, "Just get out of my room now, I told Maximus I''d join him in his domain again in a bit. And I want to see Gregor''s and Gaia''s as well."


    "Didn''t you say Gaia''s domain was just an empty field of grass?"


    "Well, yeah, so? I still want to see what it''s like when she''s just sitting there," Ryan replied. Runar just stood there for a few moments, until Ryan picked up his pillow and threw it at his uncle, "Dude, stop staring, I''m fine."


    Runar caught the pillow and tossed it back, "Right, sorry. Just let me know if you need anything. And try to get through these books before your mom gets here, and I don''t want her to read anything she shouldn''t."


    Startled, Ryan looked at the probably two dozen books on his desk, "She''s arriving tomorrow."


    "... So?"


    "I can''t read that-" Ryan protested, but just ended up sighing, "You know what, whatever, sure, I guess so. I''ll get to it after I hung out with the others for a bit."


    Runar slowly nodded and finally left Ryan''s bedroom, pulling the door shut behind him. With a long sigh, already getting exhausted and bored at the idea of having to read that much, not even mentioning reading it as fast as Runar wanted him to, Ryan laid down on his bed. He moved into a position where he was safe and steady and couldn''t get hurt, and then carefully concentrated on the flow of his mana again.


    It was so much easier than it was before. Maybe it was because of that ''epiphany'' that Runar mentioned. Either way, Ryan slowly took hold of his mana and made it flow back into his mind, as if he were pulling one of the spirits into their domain, and soon found himself in the space around the domains again. Looking around, he saw the three spirits in their respective domains, doing what they usually did when they were in there. But now that he was looking around a bit, Ryan noticed some other things as well. Right next to Maximus'' domain, all of his new body parts were solidly floating in space, right next to the weapons Granfell and Ripper.


    Ryan carefully approached them, trying to take a closer look. He grabbed Ripper''s handle, and could soon feel the weapon''s weight in his palm. As he let go of the handle again, Ripper moved into its original position on its own. Maybe this was a good place for Ryan to practice getting used to these in the case of an emergency. Though, either way, it was still a bit weird to see everything at full scale. He was always somewhat aware of them to a degree, but he was never looking at them like he was right now.


    Looking around, Ryan noticed something else as well, something that he didn''t notice when he was in here earlier. The other spirit cores were floating around a bit of a distance away. They were just there in their own little space, giving off the light of their magic. None of them had full ''domains'' right now, but it was still like they were contained in their own little bubbles.


    Jester''s core was giving off the most light right now, obviously. Morgana and Violette''s were still fractured, and Ryan would have to venture out to try and find their remaining core-pieces as soon as he could, but he had to find some clues for that first and foremost. With Gaia, he at least had Maximus'' gut-feeling that there was something in the dungeon he randomly stumbled upon on ''Loop'', but nothing like that has happened since. At least Runar was looking into it.


    But for now, Ryan just stepped back up to Maximus'' domain, pushing through the outer barrier. The knight quickly rushed up to him again the moment he noticed he was here. It seemed like the spirits weren''t able to look outside of their own domains like Ryan was. Though, Maximus could probably perceive his own parts and the weapons. And of course, Ryan already knew that they could basically see what Ryan was seeing when they were in here. He was as bit curious about what that was like, but that wasn''t important right now.


    "Sorry about disappearing out of nowhere earlier, this whole thing came a bit unexpected," Ryan laughed awkwardly, "But, y''know... want to show me around a bit? I know there''s not a lot here, but-"


    Before Ryan could even finish the sentence, Maximus stepped up next to Ryan and practically hit his back, pushing him forward. The first stop seemed to be the training dummy. Maximus picked up the wooden sword on the ground and pushed it into Ryan''s hand, looking at him expectantly. Figuring that Maximus would be satisfied if Ryan just gave it a good whack, he pulled back his arm and swung the wooden sword at the dummy. The moment the impact came, however, something new happened. The dummy came to life, spinning around and jumping toward Ryan.


    Startled, he pulled back, but the dummy quickly closed the distance, trying to swing its stick arms at Ryan. He retaliated with another swing of the wooden sword, hitting it in the head.


    A loud crack sounded out, and the dummy fell to the ground. Just a moment later, it disappeared from the ground and was reformed back in its original position.


    "What the actual hell is- Dude, really?" Ryan let out, looking over at Maximus, "This thing is alive?"


    Maximus practically flinched before hurriedly shaking his head.


    "Okay, so... it''s not alive, but it moves? Why have I never seen it move before?"


    For a few moments, Maximus seemed to try and think about the best way to explain it, and then walked over to the dummy. He carefully flicked its head, and the dummy came to life. But before it could move any substantial amount, Maximus swung his fist at the dummy. It was an audible, loud impact, and the dummy immediately reformed back at its original position. Ryan quickly understood.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Okay so... I think I got it," Ryan said, "So, when you attack it, the dummy comes to life, but it basically has a damage threshold at which point it ''resets''."


    The knight immediately pointed at Ryan, showing him that he was right. Curiously, Ryan took a closer look, "Really, now...? So does that mean you just do much damage with every attack that it doesn''t have the chance to respond? Is that function even helpful to you?"


    Maximus awkwardly scratched the back of his helmet. Clearly it wasn''t particularly useful, but even with just the ''reset'' function that basically made sure that Maximus could go all out with every attack without worry, it was still better than using a regular dummy.


    "Hm..." Ryan approached the dummy, and an idea popped into his mind. He squatted down and grabbed the bottom of the wooden post propping the dummy up, quickly lifting it, "Just wait for a bit, I''ll try something."


    Carrying the dummy, Ryan approached the wall of the knight''s domain, pushing through with it in tow. In a straight line, he approached Gregor''s domain, stepping into the old, dusty workshop. The air was completely different to how it was in Maximus'' domain, and the smell of oil and alcohol permeated throughout.


    Gregor, who was standing in front of his workbench, putting together different small parts while taking notes and sketching a blueprint. He turned around surprised, glancing at the dummy that Ryan was carrying.


    "Uh, hey, how''s it going?" Ryan asked, and Gregor simply gave him a quick nod as a greeting. He was about to turn back around and continue working when Ryan held forward the dummy, "I don''t know if that''s something you even can do, but do you think you can upgrade this? Basically so it can just take a bit more damage."


    Gregor thought about it for a moment and approached Ryan and the dummy. He quickly grabbed it with two of his arms, using his two remaining main arms to touch and tug at it in different spots. Of the two arms that were floating right beside him, the ''Precision Assembly'' arm quickly reached out and grabbed something from the table next to him; a small needle that he used to pierce through different parts of the dummy, before looking at Ryan with a quick nod.


    Without a moment''s hesitation, Gregor took out some more tools and removed the dummy''s main body from the simple frame holding it up, and then cut into its seams with a knife, carefully cutting through the stitches without damaging the dummy''s rough burlap. He carefully placed it all to the side and quickly grabbed some wooden boards and scrap metal plates. Just as he would when he prepared the parts for the cannons, Gregor cut the materials apart and prepared everything he needed within a matter of a few moments. Before Ryan even knew it, Gregor had basically replicated the dummy''s body using metal and wood, and then carefully pulled the burlap back over it.


    After everything was solidly in place, and the dummy appeared outwardly indistinguishable from what it looked like before, but when Gregor pushed it back into Ryan''s arms, it was much heavier than it was when Ryan brought it in, to the point where it was actually a little unhandy.


    "Awesome, thank you so much. I''ll come back in a bit, I''ll just bring this to Maximus and then-"


    Interrupting Ryan, Gregor just waved him off and returned back to the work he was doing before.


    "... Or maybe I''ll just leave you be. Let me know if you want me to drop by later, and I will."


    Gregor slowly nodded, and Ryan stepped out of the domain. He carried the ''upgraded'' dummy to back to Maximus'' domain and quickly pushed it back into its original place. Maximus had been waiting curiously, and was standing there with a wooden sword in his hand.


    "Give it a shot," Ryan suggested, and Maximus didn''t need to be told it twice. He didn''t hesitate to swing his sword at the dummy, and seemingly for the first time, he wasn''t able to ''kill'' it in one single go. The dummy sprung to life and threw itself at Maximus, and he quickly engaged in a short fight. Even so, the dummy was killed in just a couple more swings, soon being reconstructed in its original spot. Ryan quickly took a look and pressed down onto its body to make sure that the wood and metal were now a proper part of the dummy, and that luckily seemed to be the case.


    As he turned around, Maximus was standing there, clearly excited. Though, frankly, he was actually just standing there, but somehow the air around him was energetic and happy. That contrast took Ryan aback quite often, but he was still glad that he could understand Maximus this well despite the fact he couldn''t speak.


    That being the case, it did seem like Maximus was excited to start training with the upgraded dummy, so Ryan figured it was a good time to check up on Gaia for a bit. He stepped out of the domain and soon reached Gaia''s. Once he did, he could immediately feel the wind on his face, blowing his hair into his eyes. Ryan had no idea where that wind came from, but that wasn''t particularly important right now. What he was more focused on right now was the absolutely massive golem sitting next to him.


    This version of Gaia was a little more than 10 metres tall. Of course, she was sitting down right now, but that didn''t change that she was the size of a building. The moss and roots growing all over her body didn''t really seem that significant when she was this big.


    Excitedly, Gaia looked down at Ryan, reaching out to him. When she got close, she pulled back, not wanting to hurt him.


    "Are you alright in this place? It''s not too cramped for you?" Ryan asked, looking around. Even more so when he looked at her from this angle, compared to when he viewed Gaia''s domain from outside, she really seemed to have no space at all. Though, the space was already a lot bigger than it had been when Ryan first awakened, since it grew about a metre on each axis whenever it levelled up.


    Gaia quickly shook her head. Rather, she seemed to feel rather comfortable like this. Maybe to a golem, this was much nicer. Plus, Gaia had a garden to take care of, so maybe being able to rest in a space where she only had herself to worry about was a nice change of pace.


    Frankly, this space was probably the most peaceful and relaxing out of all the ones that were currently here. It was warm and calm, and the wind really did feel wonderful. Maybe Ryan would come back here later and take a nap here. Maybe it would be like sleeping somewhere else beside his own bed. He might as well give it a shot for a few days while he slept on the livingroom couch.


    "Mind if I come back in a little bit?" Ryan asked, and Gaia nodded without hesitation. With a smile, he patted the golem''s knee for a moment before turning back around, stepping out of the domain again. There was one last thing that he wanted to give a try now that he was in here.


    Ryan immediately approached Jester''s spirit core, soon standing underneath it.


    "I think it''s time for us to talk. What the hell do you want me to do, huh?" Ryan asked, staring at the soft blue glow of Jester''s core. It seemed to become a bit brighter for a moment, but nothing else happened.


    "Yes, I know you can''t actually answer me, but come on, now. You can hear me, and you can do that glow thing. One pulse for ''yes'', two for ''no''. Easy, right?"


    Jester''s core lit up brighter once. Figuring that it was good enough, Ryan got started.


    "Okay, great. You''ve become clearly more responsive since we''ve been fighting in the dungeon. Like you''re more ready to actually come with me. But is that really what you want? To watch us fight?"


    Jester''s glow started pulsating, but instead of once or twice... it pulsated three times.


    "Oh, come on- Fine, so... I guess that means it''s more complicated than that?"


    Just one pulse this time.


    "Then... is fighting just one of the things you would find exciting?"


    One pulse, again.


    "What about games? Music? Films? I''ve tried showing you stuff, but you haven''t reacted to anything at all. Have you seen anything beside fighting that made you interested in really letting me be your keeper?"


    Surprisingly, Jester pulsed one time. Ryan raised his brows, curiously, "Okay, uh..." he sighed to himself. It seemed like this might end up being a little more complicated than he had hoped.

 92 - Mary Locke

    With a quick wipe, Ryan finished cleaning his desk. He wanted to make sure that his room was actually clean, and for some reason, he was anxious about his mother coming to visit. It was the first time that he lived away from home, and the first time that his mother would come to visit him here, excluding when he moved here, of course. It made Ryan pretty damn anxious.


    "Everything should be looking good now," Ryan whispered. His mother should be here any moment now; Ryan had called her a cab that picked her up at New Riverside Central Station around twenty minutes ago. With how traffic was around this time of day, it should-


    The doorbell rang. Ryan immediately rushed out of his bedroom and over to the flat''s door. He pulled it open and ran down the stairs to the building''s main entrance, which he also quickly pulled open. And there his mother stood, with her suitcase next to her and the one expensive brand bag she owned over her shoulder.


    Before either of them could say anything, they pulled each other into a hug. Ryan could feel his mother rubbing his back, and she pulled back a moment later.


    "How was the trip? Do you want to eat something?" Ryan asked, quickly grabbing his mother''s suitcase. Mary smiled and shook her head.


    "I''m fine, thanks. And the trip was rather pleasant. I didn''t know the train''s first class was that much of an upgrade," she laughed slightly. That was the one thing that Ryan managed to convince his mom of; allowing him to pay for her train ticket. He just said that he got some kind of bonus at the job that he mentioned before to justify buying her the best seat in the train.


    Ryan followed his mother upstairs and brought her suitcase to his bedroom.


    "Okay, now let me meet those little spirits! Maximus and Gaia, was it?"


    "Right, of course. Gaia is upstairs, but Maximus and Gregor are in their domains, hold on," Ryan explained, "Wait, did I tell you about Gregor yet? He''s a- you know what? You''ll just see."


    For some reason, Ryan felt a little nervous about it. It was like having his mother meet his friends - oh gods, his mother also had to meet his friends. After taking a slight breath, Ryan walked into the living room and stretched his hand out toward the dining table. Two streams of mana flowed out of Ryan''s hands, intertwined red wisps and metallic pipes, that quickly came together into the two spirits'' bodies.


    Both of them looked at Mary, who took an excited step forward.


    "Oh, wow! So these are spirits? How cute!" Mary exclaimed, clasping her hands together. Ryan smiled lightly, almost feeling relieved. He didn''t know why he felt relieved; it wasn''t as though he expected his mother to react badly in the first place.


    "Yeah, so, the one on the left is Maximus the Knight Spirit, and on the right is Gregor the Artillerist Spirit," he said with a smile, and the two spirits, who were both outwardly quite stoic, simply nodded at Mary. Ryan could tell that Gregor was actually this stoic and unbothered inwardly as well, while Maximus seemed a little nervous and excited to meet Ryan''s mother, even if he didn''t outwardly show it.


    "Well, how nice! I''m Mary, nice to meet you two," she said with a smile on her face, leaning forward slightly, "And what about Gaia? Where did you say she was, upstairs?"


    "Ah..." Ryan remembered something. They hadn''t told her that they turned the rooftop into a full-on garden. It wasn''t there the last time she was here, but maybe they could convince her that it was and she just didn''t notice... or something like that, "Yeah, let me show you. Are you guys coming along? Or do you want to go-"


    Before Ryan even finished, Gregor stepped back into his domain. He seemed to be busy doing some research recently, trying to develop a new cannon blueprint, so Ryan expected this. Meanwhile, Maximus was clearly quite happy to come along. Ryan picked him and carried the knight along, while Mary followed him toward the balcony.


    "Where is your uncle?" she asked, and Ryan slightly flinched. Runar and Liam were both all the way downstairs. Liam had to get some regular check-ups to make sure that he was doing alright. Even though he wore extremely powerful sunblock every day, Runar wanted to make sure that the young vampire''s body didn''t react badly to even the small amounts of sun that did come through.


    Ryan guided his mother to the rooftop garden, where Gaia was in the middle of her work. It was actually a rather big day, since she was trying to reorganize some of the plants a bit. Before, things were a bit more random due to the random order in which the magical seeds were supplied, making them mix things together in ways that weren''t the best, but now, Gaia was trying to really put all the fruit with the fruit, the herbs with the herbs, the veggies with the veggies, and so on.


    And to make that process a bit easier, Ryan had been using the Spirit Seal Recovery skill on her again, doubling her and her sub-golems'' size and allowing them to deal with this all a lot more easily even without Ryan''s help.


    Mary looked at Ryan a bit confused, "What is- Is that Gaia? You told me she was a little larger, but this really is quite the difference..."


    Ryan laughed slightly, "Yeah, I know. Usually, she''s just a metre tall, but I have a skill that lets the spirits be larger. In Gaia''s case, she''s, well, taller than I am."


    Noticing that Ryan and his mother were here, Gaia took a break. With heavy steps, she approached the two of them, reaching out her stone hands to grasp Mary''s.


    "It''s nice to meet you, Gaia," Mary smiled, glancing past the golem, "But what about those? Are there multiple Gaias?"


    "Ah, no, those are part of Gaia''s abilities. She can create a small number of sub-golems that can help her out in the garden."


    "Speaking of... I didn''t know this was even a thing here. It''s rather beautiful up here. You''re even growing trees up here?" Mary asked, looking at Ryan surprised, as he quickly nodded.


    "Yes, so... Gaia''s abilities are related to gardening and plants and stuff, so we fixed this place up so she could have a space to do that. And as part of my abilities, I get things that relate to the spirits sometimes. Maximus can get new armour pieces and weapons, Gregor can get blueprints for cannons, and Gaia can get seeds and saplings. They''re all sort of magical plants, so they grow pretty fast," Ryan explained, walking over toward the planter with the copper wildflowers. They were finally starting to truly blossom, "These are from the dungeon that I went to a while ago, Gaia has been taking great care of them."This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Mary came over to take a look, and quickly reached out to one of the flowers. Once she did, she pulled her hand back surprised, "They''re made of metal... they grew like this?"


    "Mhm, they''re magical plants. We don''t really know what they''re for just yet, but they definitely hold some mana, so they probably have some kind of effect," Ryan explained, "There''s some more fun ones around here. Like the Glass Tulips. Do you know those ridiculously expensive glasses that you see advertised every once in a while? I think the brand is like, ''Flora'', or something."


    "Oh, yes! Those are always so pretty, but I don''t really think they''re worth the price..."


    "Well, I''ll send you some soon, then, because these flowers here are how they''re made. When they''re fully grown, you can snip the ''glass'' from the top, clean out the interior a bit, and you''ve got those cups!" Ryan explained with a smile. He managed to look into some of these plants over the past few weeks, "Apparently, even though they look like glass, they''re super hard to break, so they''re also dishwasher safe, and one of their big effects is that the effect of any magical liquid in them is strengthened. You don''t really have like, ''Potions'' that often anymore these days, but you drink that one tea sometimes, right?"


    "Magika Chamilla?"


    "Yes! That one, it has some mana in it and you say it helps you sleep, so maybe if you drink that tea from the Glass Tulip glasses, that will work even better."


    Mary smiled lightly, not really looking at the flowers, but instead looking up at her son, "Thank you, but you don''t need to send me any. Rather, just sell those tulips and save up a little."


    Ryan looked at his mom and tried not to sigh, "Listen, I don''t need to do that. I don''t really need to worry about money anymore. Just... let me send you some stuff, alright?"


    Though she clearly wasn''t particularly convinced, Mary carefully nodded, "If you say so. But tell me, what''s this job actually about? You said you can''t tell me exactly because of some NDA and such, but can you tell me nothing at all?"


    "Well... it''s kind of a... charity situation? Or rather, I got a job with a group that runs some charities, does community outreach, immigration, and that kind of stuff," Ryan explained, and Mary raised her brows surprised.


    "Really? I didn''t think you were interested in that sort of field."


    "I mean... I''ve always done that, right? I used to help out at afterschool stuff at the elementary school up until I moved here, and I used to help out with fundraisers a lot too," Ryan pointed out, "I know I never made a big deal about it, but it''s always interested me to some extent."


    "Hm... that is true. And you''re sure that this is what you want? You''re not being lured in by the pay?"


    Ryan immediately shook his head, "No, no, that''s not it at all. I mean, it helps, but the money isn''t why I''m doing this."


    "Okay. In that case, there''s nothing to worry about," Mary said with a smile, patting Ryan on the back, "Now, when can I meet your friends?"


    "Right, so, we wanted to meet at this park tomorrow. It''s by the botanical gardens so the whole place is apparently decorated a ton," Ryan explained, "So that would be Modak, Silvia, Yanna, and Fae. Oh, and of course Runar and Liam."


    Mary raised her brows, "Oh? Who are Yanna, Fae, and Liam?"


    Ryan''s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately started explaining the parts that were easy to explain, while struggling to come up with what to say about Liam, "Uh, well... Yanna is Silvia''s sister and Modak''s girlfriend, and Fae is Silvia''s girlfriend. And Liam, uhm... he''s kind of Runar''s son?"


    "Excuse me? His... son? I didn''t even know he was seeing anybody," Mary blinked confused, staring at Ryan, "How old is he?"


    "Liam is ten now, and no, Runar isn''t seeing anyone. I mean, there''s kind of a vibe with this really cool chef that''s moving to the block right now, so... you know, but no, Liam is adopted. Actually, the organisation that I work for kind of connected them, cause Liam needed a decent guardian, because, uh... Liam is a vampire?"


    "Vam- Huh?"


    "Yeah, so, Vampires are real."


    Mary started to laugh, hitting Ryan''s arm, "Oh, you got me there, and here I thought you were serious. Gosh, now that I think about it, Runar adopting a ten year old kid is a bit too unbelievable in the first place."


    With an awkward grimace, not sure what to say, Ryan whispered, "There''s a lot about Runar that''s pretty unbelievable..."


    "What was that?"


    "Nothing, nothing, just... yeah, it''s not a joke. Runar actually adopted a kid, and yes, Vampires are actually real. Like, genuinely."


    "... Really?"


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan looked down at his phone, trying to figure out where the spot everyone was supposed to meet up was. It was so pretty busy here in the park, so finding any sort of landmark would be a miracle. Not to mention, Liam wasn''t making this particularly easy either. He was practically clinging to his side, digging his fingers into Ryan''s clothes, not letting go whatsoever.


    The crowd was clearly a bit too much for him, but he insisted on coming. Runar and Mary were a few steps behind. Mary was still confused about the whole situation with Liam, so Runar was trying to explain the situation to her without revealing the secrets of the Aglecard family. It was basically an abridged version of the story that the family came up with for public perception, in case anyone was going to question Runar.


    "Godsdammit, why is my signal always so fucking bad in crowds?" Ryan groaned, and Liam glanced up at him, "... Sorry. Language. I know. Just trying to find everyone."


    "Could you not use the spirits? You said you used Gaia for scouting before."


    "Sure, but I can''t very well do that here, right now," Ryan pointed out, "The sub-golems are too small and might end up getting crushed by people that aren''t paying attention, or they could trip over them and fall down, and I don''t want that. But... you know what, let''s try something out. Are you alright with me picking you up?"


    Liam slowly nodded, so Ryan, without a moment''s hesitation, squatted down and let Liam climb onto his shoulders. Ryan quickly stood up straight. With how light Liam was, this was pretty damn easy to do. And then, Ryan held up his hand toward the boy, and Maximus stepped out of his domain. Liam quickly understood what to do, and held the small knight up as high as he could, before Ryan linked with Maximus.


    With the extra height, it was pretty easy to spot Yanna in the distance.


    "Finally, found them! Alright, let''s go," Ryan said, quickly guiding the way for his mother and Runar as well. Plus, it seemed like sitting up here made Liam a bit calmer somehow. Maybe it was because he was able to look over most people now instead of being blocked in every direction.


    It didn''t take long until they pushed their way through the crowd, reaching the four people that were waiting for them.


    Ryan introduced everyone to his mother, and introduced Liam to Yanna and Fae who both hadn''t met him yet, even if they heard about him before. Mary seemed a bit confused as to who was who, particularly since she didn''t know that Silvia was adopted and that her sister was a minotaur, but she quickly understood the situation once Ryan properly introduced everyone.


    They were ready to make their way toward the botanical garden now, where some kind of show was supposed to happen in a bit, but Ryan lingered near Modak for a little while longer.


    "Yo, dude, you alright? You''re looking kinda tired," he pointed out, and the Orc replied with a yawn as if on purpose.


    "What, you think so?" he scoffed, "Yeah, I don''t know, I''m preparing something big for this Thursday. I''m revealing the results of my research."


    "... It''s been like a couple weeks since you started working at the tower and you already have something to show off?"


    Modak grinned broadly, "Oh yeah, you''ve got absolutely no idea, man."

 93 - Tangled

    The air was filled with the scent of numerous different flowers, mixing together beautifully. Though, no matter how nice the smell really was, it was also rather overwhelming. Some of the species that had a more naturally keen sense of smell carried around face masks or handkerchiefs that they held in front of their noses to block the smell out a little bit. Ryan could understand why; he himself almost wanted to do so. While he was more focused on the visuals of the colourful flowers planted next to each other in front of them, climbing up the pillars alongside the path, Yanna was seemingly struggling.


    Not only was a minotaur''s sense of smell on average about ten times more than that of species like humans, elves, or orcs, Yanna had the ''perception'' stat that increased all her senses, including her sense of smell.


    "Are you okay? Should we go somewhere else?" Modak asked, placing his hand on the minotaur''s back. But she quickly shook her head.


    "No, it''s fine... It''s just a little worse than it usually is on Regir''s day..."


    "If you''re sure. But tell me if it gets too much," he said, smiling up at her. Yanna smiled back, lightly bumping her shoulder into his.


    Standing just a bit in front of them, Ryan was trying to see the ''stage'', the area that was circled by flowers right in front of the botanical gardens. He was pretty curious about what was going on there, and what everyone was waiting for.


    "What''s the deal? Is it like this every time?" he asked as he looked at his uncle, who simply grinned a bit.


    "It is. I''m sure you''ll like this. It should happen fairly soon," Runar looked down at the watch on his wrist, and Ryan curiously turned back over there. And that was when the crowd in front of him started to move a bit, and for just a moment, Ryan got a view of the middle of that ''stage'', even if just for a second or two. There was a small plant sprouting, much, much faster than normal.


    It grew and grew, and soon, the bud was peaking out even above the heads of the people right in front of Ryan. But even then, it wasn''t done. This flower had massive petals, twisting around each other. Slowly but surely, they came undone.


    The flower itself was beautiful, but that wasn''t the focus. Rather, what everyone was looking at, and what everyone was here for, was the spirit that was unveiled as the flower bloomed. It had the appearance of a beautiful young woman. Pale green skin and an elegant dress made of flower petals.


    This was the first time that Ryan had seen a spirit outside of the ones he was the keeper of ever since he awakened. The air that was around the flower spirit in front of him was similar, but somehow incredibly different to that of Maximus, Gaia, or Gregor. Not to mention, she was a lot bigger. She was around Gaia''s height, a metre tall.


    So why were the others so small? Did it have something to do with the ''seal'' that was apparently placed onto them?


    "So? What''d you think?" Runar asked, and Ryan slowly turned toward him.


    "I don''t know, what am I supposed to think?"


    "Well... it''s a spirit."


    "Yeah, so?"


    "... Hm. Nothing, I guess," Runar replied somewhat awkwardly, as if he expected a spirit keeper to automatically really like spirits. And it wasn''t as though Ryan didn''t like spirits, but they simply didn''t feel as distant and ''special'' as they used to. And a moment later, this flower spirit in particular didn''t feel distant at all.


    Her and Ryan seemed to lock eyes for a moment, though he was sure he imagined it. That was, until the flower spirit came flying straight toward him. She floated over the ground as if her body didn''t weigh anything at all. The crowd split, and Ryan could see a small trail of flowers grow right underneath the spirit''s body. They were the same flowers as the one that the spirit just came out of, just the size of a normal flower.


    It stopped right in front of Ryan, deeply staring at him, her lips curled up into a smile. The crowd''s attention had turned toward him, and it was rather... uncomfortable. All those stares were digging into his skin. Even Runar was looking at him with some sense of disbelief in his eyes. But a moment later, Ryan could feel something inside of him twist and turn. Quite literally. Gaia was almost sitting up in excitement.


    For a moment, it seemed like she was just excited to see a flower spirit, being a gardener at all, but a different idea sparked into Ryan''s mind. He carefully leaned forward to whisper into the spirit''s ear.


    "Did Gaia... grow you?" he asked, pulling back a moment later. The spirit''s smile grew larger, as if she was excited, and immediately closed the distance again. She gave Ryan a tight, excited hug, like when you met an old friend. It seemed like Gaia wanted to come out of her domain, but she was holding back because of the crowd.


    While the hug was still going on, Ryan whispered to the spirit again, "We''ll come back later... so you two can meet properly, okay?"


    Startled, the flower spirit let go and nodded her head in excited disbelief. Like she was given a wave of excitement that reminded Ryan far too much of a young child, she flew up above the crowd. With a wave of her hand, flower petals rained down onto the crowd. The flower spirit waved at Ryan for a moment and then moved back over to her flower. Most of the crowd followed her movement, but the people that were with Ryan were still staring at him.


    "What did you say to her?" Silvia asked immediately, and Ryan laughed awkwardly.


    "I''ll tell you guys later. For now... let''s go, I think Yanna is struggling a bit," he pointed out, looking up at the minotaur. Of course, the flower spirit had an incredibly powerful scent, and with her literally a step away, it was too much for Yanna. She seemed quite sick from how powerful the smell was, and so the group quickly pushed their way out of the crowd. Liam was still stuck to Ryan''s hand, actually squeezing tighter than he was before. Once they were in an area where not that many people were right now, everyone took a breather. Modak was taking care of Yanna, who was squatting down while trying to deal with how sick she was feeling.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "Did you know that spirit?" Ryan''s mother asked him, but he quickly shook his head.


    "No, no, I don''t. But I guess Gaia does," he pointed out, glancing over to Runar. At this point, he had given up on getting surprised by these new revelations.


    "How nice! Why didn''t she come out to say hello?"


    "Ah, I think she was too nervous to come out in front of the crowd," Ryan explained, "But I told that flower spirit that we would come back later. I''m guessing she lives here at the botanical gardens?"


    Runar quickly nodded, "Yes, she settled in there maybe fifty years ago when it was first opened, apparently."


    "Hm, alright. Then we''ll go back when there''s not too many people," Ryan said, "It does seem like Gaia wants to-"


    He flinched. An uncomfortable sensation invaded the back of his head. It was uncomfortable and ''wrong'', as if it wasn''t supposed to be here. It was a familiar sensation. Ryan turned around for a moment, his breaths growing heavier and faster. But the sensation was already gone. Did he imagine it? He could swear he just felt a spark of corruption. Or at least something similar to it. Since it disappeared right away, maybe it was just an uncomfortable glare of someone that didn''t like that Ryan was interacting with a spirit? Corruption usually lingered a lot more.


    But no matter how much he looked, he couldn''t find it again. Ryan should still talk to Runar about it later. For now, though, the group stepped away from the botanical gardens. It was far too full and here in particular, the smell was clearly too much for Yanna. And Runar was trying to hide it, but he also apparently awakened his perception stat and raised it quite a bit, so he was dealing with how strong the smell in the area was as well.


    But that was fine, there were still plenty of things for them to see. The whole city was decorated with beautiful garlands celebrating Regir, the great spirit of nature. That meant no matter where you went, you could see a new side of the city you lived. It was actually the perfect time for Ryan''s mother to come here for a visit, since she could see so many new parts of the town over the next week. She seemed to be quite excited to do so as well, and was talking to Runar about some random, boring stuff that people their age liked.


    But looking over to his friends, it seemed like they were all rather deep in thought about something. Yanna was still recovering from the assault of those scents, and Modak was mentally at work. That was something he was expecting, but he was a bit surprised about Silvia and Fae. Silvia was biting her nails in thought, while Fae''s confusion was quite literally written on her skin. The patterns usually adorning her canvas-like body were twirling around and changing rather rapidly, like her thoughts were racing.


    "You alright?" Ryan asked, and Fae looked at him a bit startled. She looked over at Silvia, wondering if he was talking to her, but Ryan shook his head, "No, Silvia is just thinking about some new painting she wants to make. But you seem a little nervous about something. Is everything okay?"


    Waves of colour flowed over her body in tune with her clearly fast heartbeat.


    "I, uh... I''m just a bit surprised, that''s all. I mean, a spirit just came up to you and hugged you and stuff. And not just any spirit, but Maribelle, who''s famous for never giving even a moment of attention to people she doesn''t care for."


    Ryan raised a brow, "You know about her?"


    "Oh, yeah! My mother is a florist, so I always grew up around them, and I don''t know if you''ve seen my art but I do use flower motives a lot. So when I moved to New Riverside, I immediately came to the botanical gardens and saw Maribelle there for the first time," Fae explained, "I painted her for one of my classes'' final last semester..."


    Ryan smiled a bit. He wanted to offer Silvia to come with them when meeting her later, but he knew that there were going to be a lot of conversations about things that he didn''t really want too many people to know about. Ryan figured he should probably go alone, especially if Maribelle didn''t usually like interacting with people. But maybe he could ask if he could come back with his friends, and then Fae could meet Maribelle.


    Ryan turned toward Fae with a smile, trying to say he would ask the spirit about this later, but the words didn''t leave his mouth. Rather, he stopped walking altogether, as he spotted something unexpected. In the distance, though not too far away, stood a young woman in a white dress. Her skin was light brown, and the antlers on her head were adorned with glass flowers.


    Practically startled, Ryan called out to his uncle, "Runar!" he said, not turning away from the woman in fear of her just disappearing when he even just blinked.


    "What? Is everything okay?" Runar asked, and Ryan nodded.


    "Yeah, yeah, just take Liam''s hand for a second, I need to- I need to check on something..."


    Runar did as asked and grabbed Liam''s hand instead of Ryan, and only then looked over to the place Ryan was incessantly staring at. When he saw that woman standing there, he realized what Ryan was about to do, but it was too late. He was already running toward her.


    Ryan was worried that she was going to try and get away, but she just kept standing there. And the closer he got, the more he could see her scowl. Her angry, hateful scowl.


    He slowly stopped in front of her.


    "Uh... hey, are you-"


    "How dare you?"


    "Huh?"


    "How dare you mess it all up? Do you even know how tangled it''s all gotten?" she practically growled at Ryan, "With every step you take, it just gets worse?"


    Ryan''s stomach dropped, "I... what do you mean? Why did you mess with Silvia? D-Did you make her awaken?"


    The woman took a step closer to Ryan, "Make her awaken? Hah, no, of course not. She was never supposed to awaken. It''s all gone wrong, so incredibly, incredibly wrong. I tried to undo the mess you made, but because of all those that were interfering, it just got worse."


    She glanced down at Ryan''s arm, "Even that symbiote... do you know what you did by bonding with it? Do you know what sort of ruin you brought to the future?"


    "I don''t... I don''t understand what you''re talking about. How am I messing things up? I''m just trying to help, that''s all I''ve ever wanted to do."


    She started laughing, "Yeah, well, that doesn''t matter. The only way for you not to have messed up this world was for you to not be born in the first place. Though even before then, things became a true, complete mess."


    "Well... well what can I do? If things are a mess, tell me how I can fix it."


    Despite Ryan''s hopes, the woman just glared at him with more hatred flowing through her, "Nothing. Just do nothing. Hide away in your home, don''t interact with anyone ever again. Make people forget you even exist, and let things go the way they''re supposed to again. With time, the knots that you created might come undone."


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about, what am I doing that''s so bad?"


    "You exist, that''s bad enough," she explained, "The flow of everybody''s lives is like a river, flowing together and alongside each other in a natural, smooth way. Sometimes, the river is blocked, but the water will flow around it. Diverge slightly, but in the end, it will always return to its path. What you''re doing is wading through that river, building a dam, and making it flow the wrong way. Because you''re not a part of the river. You''re just a... a terrible villain that exists to make the river of fate dry up."


    "I..." Ryan looked back at her, trying to figure out what to say. But she didn''t care anymore. She wasn''t even really looking at Ryan, rather focusing her eyes on something around him.


    "All those threads clinging to you, when you don''t even have your own... I hope you''re happy."

 94 - Flower Crowns

    "I..." Ryan looked at the woman in front of him, but she wasn''t looking back at him at all. He could feel her anger and the hatred that was coursing through her body. But that wasn''t all; Ryan could feel the fear that she was feeling at the idea of things going out of control coursing through her. This fear was the foundation for her anger and hatred. But how did Ryan even know that? Sure, when it came to people, he was a bit more apt at figuring out what they were feeling, but it was never something this strong. It was almost like...


    "You''re a-" Ryan started, but the woman''s glare interrupted him just a moment later. She turned around and went on her way.


    "I can''t stop you. I can''t get rid of you to make things go right again. I can''t do anything but ask that you do the right thing," she said, turning and walking away. Ryan was left standing there, staring at her back. He wanted to run after her, and ask her to explain, but his feet were practically glued to the ground. Heavy as lead, too heavy for him to lift. The woman left, dragging her fear-filled fury behind her.


    Once she was out of sight, disappearing in the crowd, Ryan could feel the weight lift from his body as Runar''s hand was placed onto his shoulder, "Ryan, are you okay?"


    "Yeah, I''m fine, just... she said that I''m messing up fate," he replied, staring at his uncle, "Runar, why is a spirit telling me that I''m messing up fate?"


    Taken aback by the question, Runar looked into the direction the woman had left to, "A spirit? What do you mean?"


    "She''s a spirit, some kind of nature spirit I guess, but that''s not important right now."


    "Not important? Yes, that''s absolutely important. You were speaking with her, right?"


    "Yeah, so?"


    "Spirits can''t ''speak'', they communicate through magic and mystic means- Even the seven greats can''t speak," Runar pointed out, "So really, are you absolutely sure that she''s a spirit?"


    "... She felt like one. Or at least something like a spirit, I don''t know. Seriously, I think you''re focusing on the wrong thing here... It''s like you... you knew," the realization slowly came to Ryan, "You knew that I was messing up fate with every single step."


    Runar let out a long sigh, "You''re not ''messing up'' fate, you''re just... altering it. Fate is a fickle thing anyway, it''s not that deep. But to a being that can see fate like her, changes like that are catastrophic."


    The heat that he felt in his face earlier only got stronger, "You knew who she was beforehand. Just not that she was a spirit, I guess. That''s why you''re so surprised."


    "Well... maybe, but-"


    "No ''but'', dude, what the actual fuck? You promised me that there would be no more lies, that you wouldn''t keep things that directly relate to me hidden from me anymore. So what, you decide that this whole ''fate'' business wasn''t important enough? And you just hide that you knew who the person assaulting my best friend is?"


    "I just thought-"


    "Don''t you fucking dare," Ryan barked back, stepping closer to his uncle, "I swear, if you don''t stop hiding shit from me, I''m seriously going to fucking scream."


    Seeing his mother approach concerned, Ryan pushed past Runar, bumping into his shoulder on purpose as he passed. Mary looked at her son, trying to reach out to his arm, but Ryan shook his head and silently walked past her.


    When Ryan got this mad, he often struggled to find the right words, lashing out at those around him. So, rather than do something he would regret afterward, he decided to just stay silent around his loved ones. His mother knew that, quickly recognizing Ryan''s expression. So instead, she approached Runar.


    "What happened?" Mary asked with a concerned frown, but Runar just scratched the back of his head, unsure what to say.


    "It''s complicated. I''m sorry. Just... since he moved here, he learned a lot of things that sort of changed his view of the world."


    Mary turned around, looking at her son''s back as he stood by his friends'' side, silently tapping his foot on the ground. He was clearly trying not to show how mad he was feeling, particularly because Liam stood right in front of him, but you could still see that he wasn''t okay right now.


    Ryan stood there with his eyes closed, trying to take deep breaths and calm himself down. He could feel Tiar squeezing his arm, trying to calm him down. Of course, the symbiote could feel that Ryan was upset. And that was when Ryan remembered what that woman said. That Ryan was bringing ruin to the future by having bonded with them.


    "Don''t listen to her. She was just speaking complete nonsense," Ryan whispered into his hand. He didn''t know what that woman meant, but there was no way that bonding with Tiar was a bad choice. Was Tiar supposed to bond with someone else? Or were they supposed to never bond with anyone in the first place?


    Either way, none of that mattered right now. Fuck fate, and fuck the idea that Ryan was messing up the world just by existing. It wasn''t as though he was trying to do any of this.


    "You alright? Where did you go just now?" Silvia looked at Ryan. It didn''t seem like she had seen that woman earlier, which Ryan was rather glad about. She was pretty messed up after what happened at the restaurant.


    "I''ll tell you later, alright?" Ryan suggested. Even though he was glad Silvia hadn''t seen her, her and Modak should still know about this. He promised to keep them up to date, and he always kept his promises.


    "If you''re sure," Silvia replied, briefly patting Ryan''s back. As she did, Ryan looked over at Fae. Judging from her expression, though, she did see that antlered woman. All the colour had been drained from her face, quite literally. Usually, she had some patterns of colour on her cheeks, but right now, that wasn''t the case. Clearly, she felt that something was going on, but she didn''t want to mention it. Maybe she knew something else about this too, but Ryan didn''t care about that right now.


    He just wanted to move on for a bit, and have fun with his friends. He wanted to forget about the fact that he apparently made a mess of everything. But things didn''t always go as you wanted them to.


    Around when Runar and Mary came back to the group after speaking for a few moments, a loud applause and cheers sounded out from the direction of the botanical garden''s entrance, where Maribelle and the employees were putting on a show for the visitors. But together with that came a wave of... discomfort.


    A deep headache came over Ryan as his gut feeling told him that something was wrong. That something was going on. He was about to run back there and check it out when it simply faded away again. It was an instant of discomfort and ''wrongness'' that disappeared before he knew it. Maybe Ryan was just a bit too sensitive right now because of his continuously heightened intuition stat, and his bad mood certainly wasn''t making that any better. Ryan took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down again. It was fine. He would be okay.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


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    Ryan carried a crate down the stairs to the basement ruins. Maximus, Gregor, and Gaia were also helping out, as were the sub-golems. Inside of those crates were flowers, garlands, decoration, and some music players, that would be put up downstairs. This was the compromise that Runar and Ryan decided on.


    While most of the people down here couldn''t exactly leave and join the celebrations outside, making sure that they had an opportunity to celebrate a bit more was still something important to Ryan. So, over the weekend, they had started some preparations. With the help of the dryads, as it was much easier to convince them than Runar had implied it would be, they decorated the cave with bright flowers and plants of all sorts.


    There was a tradition amongst some of the people living down there, who came here for refugee after fleeing the country they hid in in the past, to wear flower crowns during the day of Regir. And those were what Ryan was currently bringing downstairs, as he had finally finished putting it all together. Together with those, Ryan was bringing some flowers that were bought from local shops and stands, other Regir-themed trinkets, and even some flowers from Gaia''s garden downstairs. That actually included the copper wildflowers. Since they still hadn''t found another use for them, using them as decoration for the time being seemed like a good enough idea. Now that they blossomed, they were made of practically normal copper and wouldn''t wilt anyway, so they might as well.


    Ryan pushed his way through the stone door at the bottom of the stairs, quickly encountering some of the dryads that were waiting for him.


    "Hey there, sorry if I''m a little late. Traffic was pretty bad," Ryan apologized, but the dryads didn''t seem to mind. Rather, they were just very curiously looking into the boxes that Ryan and the spirits were carrying, "Come on, I''ll show you in a bit, let''s just get out of the thicket for a bit and call the others over, alright?"


    Quickly agreeing, the dryads pushed aside the vines and leaves growing over the path. As Runar had said before, they liked playing pranks, but after Ryan spoke to them a bit they ended up listening to his requests pretty well and stopped blocking the door intentionally. Since they all lived here, the plants naturally grew a good bit faster, so it was unavoidable to some degree, but the dryads actually started helping out a bit more around this small hidden village.


    As Ryan put down the crates, plenty of people quickly approached him, practically lining up in front of him.


    "Alright, everyone go ahead and grab a flower crown if you want to, there should be plenty of those here. For those that can''t wear one, like the sprites, we had another idea so just come to me in a second. After that, feel free to just, you know, grab some of these flowers, put them in your home. We have some vases in the warehouse over there if you want them," Ryan said with a smile, quickly watching particularly the younger people excitedly grab the flower crowns. Then, he turned over toward the small group of Ghouls standing at the side, eagerly waiting for their turn.


    Ryan reached down and opened up one of the boxes that he prepared especially for them. It held flower crowns with small purple and cyan flowers on them, which he quickly grabbed and brought toward the Ghouls.


    Ghouls were a species that wasn''t very common even amongst all the other magical species that existed. They were, after all, artificially created by a necromancer in the long past. Nonetheless, they were a genuine species of people that lived and breathed and reproduced. Their biological functions were slowed, and they had a completely carnivorous diet. They were also the ones who spoke about the tradition of wearing flower crowns.


    Since Ghouls gave off a slight scent that was akin to rot in some ways, they tried whatever they could to stop that from happening. In their old home, they would often use perfume made from a particular rare flower that was hard to get everywhere. This flower had small petals that were purple at the base and cyan at the tips. It was what these flower crowns were made of. Noticing these flowers that they hadn''t seen in so long, the ghouls looked back at Ryan with surprise.


    "How... did... you... get... these..?" one of them asked, in that almost whispered and struggling speech that many ghouls had.


    "We special-ordered them. It was pretty hard to find them, even then, though, so you''ll have to wait for a bit until we can get more," Ryan explained, looking over at Gaia, "We also bought some seeds so we can plant some ourselves, but obviously it will take a while for them to blossom. But once we get Gaia a bigger garden with a larger greenhouse, we should be able to-"


    "Thank... you..." another said, milky white tears in her eyes.


    "Of course."


    Ryan smiled at them, watching as they put on the flower crowns that he specifically made for them. He then turned around, seeing the tiny sprites crowded around his feet. It was like a canister of motor oil was spilled around his feet.


    "Okay, you guys. Since you like to jump around and combine and split off, I figured actual flowers might not be the best for you, so I have these little things," Ryan explained, pulling out a small box. They were filled with small individual flowers that were made into the shape of crowns for the sprites to ''wear'', "If you want, you can just copy these."


    While the sprites were good at copying the appearance of things, they weren''t good at altering or making things on their own, so this was the best idea that Ryan could come up with. And after just a moment, black flowers seemed to sprout on the sprites'' heads, before they excitedly ran away.


    And with that, there were just three more things that Ryan had to hand out. First, he made his way to Runar''s office down here. Runar himself was upstairs keeping Ryan''s mom busy, but there was someone else in the office.


    He pushed the door open and stepped inside. Trying to be quiet, even if the one he was trying to surprise was effectively deaf, Ryan approached the nest next to the desk. With a smile, he held a small flower hat specifically made for the small pixie Penny in front of the nest.


    Startled, she held her head out of the nest, noticing Ryan. With a broad smile on her face, she jumped out of the nest and gave Ryan''s cheek a hug. And after seeing the small hat that Ryan made for her, she was even more excited, and quickly put it on, and broadly grinned at the man in front of her.


    "You''re looking very, very pretty," he said, and though Penny most certainly didn''t understand him, she seemed to know she was being complimented. Since pixies communicated through magic, Ryan''s sociability stat seemed to help out a bit here.


    "Want to come outside with me? You''ll have to wait for me a little later, but it would be great to see you join everyone else," Ryan said, pointing toward the door. Penny seemed hesitant, but in the end nodded her head. He stepped outside, and Penny sat down on his shoulder, nervously looking around.


    Whenever Ryan passed someone, she tried to hide herself a bit by pulling Ryan''s hair in front of her, but after a while she got used to it a little more. And then, they got to the next stop, where Ryan would give out two of the metal flower crowns he made. Figuring it would be a good use for the copper wildflowers for now, Ryan made some for the two beings that couldn''t use regular flowers.


    One of those was the Forge elemental. Regular flowers would just get burnt up, sitting on top of the stone dragon''s head. Though the elemental wanted to eat the flowers at first, once Ryan explained it, pointing to the crown he himself was wearing, the elemental happily left it on top of its head, curling up in its dragon form to keep sleeping so that it could keep wearing it a little longer.


    And then, it was time for Ryan to meet the next one. Kindly the corrupted mimic, sitting all alone at the outskirts of the cave.


    "Wait down here, alright? I''ll be right back," Ryan said, and Penny nervously nodded her head, sitting down on the steps that were far, far too big for her. He made his way upstairs with the second pair of the metal crowns.


    Frankly, Ryan hadn''t told his uncle about this, since he wouldn''t have agreed anyway, but he wanted to do something for Kindly. Ryan came here every once in a while and just spoke to him, though there obviously was no back and forth.


    He pushed open the door and Kindly seemed to practically flinch, as he always did.


    "Hey, bud. I brought you something," he explained, carefully placing the flower crown onto the ground in the mimic''s reach. It was specially made to fit into the grooves at the top of the wardrobe that Kindly lived in, "I''m not sure if you know about Spirit Week, but we''re celebrating Regir, the great spirit of nature, today. Everyone else is wearing these, so I figured you might as well do too."


    Kindly''s dozens of eyes blinked as the room was silent, and Ryan smiled awkwardly, "You don''t need to worry about breaking the flowers or anything. They''re made of metal. Even if they have mana, they should hold out for a couple days. Others would rot, but these are fine. I think."


    Carefully, Kindly started reaching out to the flower crown. Even if he wouldn''t wear it, Ryan wanted to at least give this a shot. The mimic''s tentacles curled around the flowers, the black sludge of the corruption quickly covering them.


    But then, Kindly pulled back, hissing in pain.


    "What? Kindly, are you okay?" he asked nervously. What was going on?


    Ryan looked at the copper wildflowers. They should be overtaken by the corruption by now, but... they were fine. Rather, the sludge was dried out and crumbled away, and the same was the case for the parts of Kindly''s tentacle that touched them. The corruption that covered him there was falling off like dried mud.


    The copper wildflowers could fight off corruption.

 95 - Curing Corruption

    Kindly''s tentacles were coiling up, startled. Though, it didn''t seem like the mimic was actually in pain; it was more the sort of response you got when you expected pain but none actually came, or some kind of immediate stimulus that was surprising but not actively painful.


    Ryan immediately looked down at the copper flowers. The corruption wasn''t able to invade it.


    "Why would..." he muttered, thinking about Gaia. He found the first fragment of her core in a dungeon. The monsters in there were made of stone; they were golems. And probably due to Gaia''s nature, she took the wild plants that were growing in the area and made them a central part of the dungeon as well, so that part made sense.


    But why would the seeds dropped by those golem monsters grow into flowers that could fight off corruption? Unless...


    "Gaia''s dungeon was supposed to be corrupted," Ryan whispered, tapping his foot on the ground as he walked himself through it all, "They didn''t just try to make a dungeon using a spirit core, but they were trying to make a corrupted dungeon... One like that would draw a ton of attention and maybe make people investigate it more. But Gaia was stronger. She managed to push back against the corruption, and now..."


    Ryan approached the copper flowers, a grin slowly but surely forming on his face. He picked the flower crown up from the ground, looking it over. It seemed to be perfectly fine, though maybe a little more rusted.


    "Kindly, I''ll be back soon, okay?" he said, smiling broadly as he rushed back out the door. Ryan almost stumbled down the stairs while pulling out his phone. Once he was at the bottom of the steps, Penny quickly came up to Ryan again, sitting down on his shoulder as before.


    He quickly typed in his uncle''s phone number and immediately called it. With those special plates that Runar made for the trio''s phones, they could luckily call people from down here.


    "Come on, man, I know you don''t know how to use your phone, but-"


    Runar finally picked up, whispering on the other side of the call, "Is everything okay? Do you need my-"


    "We can cure corruption!"


    "What?"


    "We can. Cure. Corruption. The copper flowers fight off corruption. I gave Kindly that metal flower crown, and part of his tentacle was healed," Ryan explained immediately, rushing through the village to get back to the entrance. In the process, he walked past a woman in a hazmat suit, hauling around feed for the animals.


    "Sorry, what do you mean?" Runar''s voice became a bit clearer, but he seemed to have moved to a different place where he didn''t have to worry about Ryan''s mother overhearing.


    "Oh gods- It''s not that complicated. The flowers from Gaia''s dungeon fight off corruption. We need to put this into some kind of cure or potion or whatever, so-"


    "Find Rose, right now. She has been making medicine for the animals for a while now, so she knows how to extract magical qualities from plants," Runar explained, and Ryan immediately dug his feet into the ground, changing the direction he was running. Instead of to the cave''s entrance, he was trying to make his way to animal pens where Rose should be around this time.


    "Got it! I''ll let you know if she can do it," Ryan replied.


    "Do that. I can''t just disappear as well with your mom here, so just-"


    "Yeah, yeah, I know. Talk to you later," Ryan hung up the call so that he could focus on making his way through the village while not hurting anyone. Penny was holding on tightly to his hair so that she wouldn''t be thrown off.


    The animal pens came into view, and Ryan could also see the bright yellow hazmat suit moving around between them, carrying some large bags of animal feed.


    "Oh, Ryan!" Rose exclaimed, "Perfect timing, could you help me out?"


    Ryan immediately walked up to her and took the bag of feed out of her hands, instead giving her the metal flower crown, "I''ll take over your work, but while I''m doing that, take the magical qualities out of those flowers. They can cure corruption."


    Rose stood there silently for a few moments. Ryan was prepared to explain it all again, but that wasn''t necessary this time.


    "Got it. Do you know the schedule?"


    "Uh, yeah, basically. It''s hanging in the shed, right?" he replied, and Rose nodded.


    "Yes. I''ll let you know when it''s done, it shouldn''t take too long. I hope," Rose responded, turning around without hesitation to get to work. And so, meanwhile, Ryan got started feeding the animals. He needed some protective gear for most of them, like the sunglasses for the cockatrices, but that was fine. He still got around to most of the animal pens pretty quickly, and just had Penny wait outside when it was too dangerous for her to join him.


    It took Ryan about an hour to finish up the work that Rose hadn''t gotten to yet. The people in the village were in the middle of their Regir-day celebrations, playing music that Ryan hadn''t heard before, eating food that actually smelled quite heavenly from over here, and just having a good time. But Ryan couldn''t join them, he had to hurry up. If the flowers could cure corruption, then that wouldn''t just be useful for Kindly. There were a few more individuals or animals here that were affected by some form of corruption. Kindly''s was unique in that it jumped over to any sort of mana that it could latch onto, but there were those that had similar cases of corruption to what Ryan experienced before bonding with Tiar.


    People that were brought to the symbiote nest and couldn''t bond with one, which would have been the simplest way to get rid of it. Otherwise, their corrupted flesh would need to be cut out, something that many people not only down here, but spread all across New Riverside, were waiting for and going through right now.


    When he brought everything back to the shed, Ryan quickly made his way to where Rose was creating the ''cure'' using the flowers. He pushed open the door and stepped through toward the second room. But as he was about to push down the handle, he noticed a certain scent. It was almost sickly sweet, and just a single moment made Ryan''s heart race. Pushing the door open, the smell only became stronger. The hazmat suit laid on the ground, and on the other side of the room stood Rose. He had been working with her for a while now, but Ryan hadn''t even seen her face or heard her voice without the muffling of the suit before.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Her skin was a light pink, and a thin tail came out from the bottom of her back, peaking out through her trousers. Right above the base of the tail were two small wings, that were definitely too weak to carry her. Hearing the door open, Rose turned around, and the two small curled up horns at the top of her head peaked out of her hair. Ryan recognized what Rose was. He wasn''t sure why he had never put it together before; he just thought that Rose had some kind of curse or corruption on herself that she didn''t want others to be affected by. But no; Rose was a succubus.


    "What are you doing in here? Get out, right now!" Rose yelled out, though she wasn''t angry by any means. She was scared, seeing right stand there, in range of the succubus'' scent; the reason why succubi were a protected species in the first place.


    They were similar to vampires in the way that they absorbed others'' mana to survive. But while a vampire did so by digesting the mana in a person''s blood, a succubus did so by simply absorbing the mana that someone was giving off through skin contact. To make either of these things happen, both vampires and succubi were incredibly beautiful, making up for their lower physical strength. Succubi evolved in a way that they started giving off a magical scent that was practically a strong aphrodisiac, luring people into sexual acts so that they could have the skin contact that was needed for them to feed.


    But since that was an ability that couldn''t be just toggled off at will, that caused problems. Anyone that wasn''t a succubus themself would be affected by this scent, though it luckily didn''t affect animals the same way that it did most other species of people. To protect succubi from sexual exploitation, which was sadly already the case, where many succubi were forced into sex work against their will, the Aglecard family was working on a way to suppress this special scent. But since that wasn''t already a thing, Rose opted for a more extreme option. Wearing a hazmat suit whenever she was around people that could be affected.


    Ryan immediately pulled his shirt over his face. He had only gotten a few moments of it, so it shouldn''t be too bad yet, "Sorry, I didn''t know. Do you have any masks or something?"


    Rose glanced over to the wall, where she had what were basically small gas masks, though they were probably meant for when she was making medicine in here. Ryan quickly went over to them and put one of them on, already feeling himself calm down a bit. Tiar seemed to be in overdrive as well, trying to force out all the ''bad stuff'' that was entering the body that the two shared.


    "... Are you...? Are you okay?" Rose asked hesitantly, and Ryan slowly nodded.


    "Yeah, I''m alright, just a little... warm," he explained, "Tiar is helping me out a little I think."


    Letting out a sigh of relief, Rose nodded her head, "Alright, great... still, don''t... don''t just come rushing in here okay?"


    "Sorry, I didn''t really think, I was just in a hurry and wanted to see how things were going," Ryan explained, glancing over at his shoulder where Penny was still seated. Pixies were amongst the species of people that weren''t affected by the scent of the succubi due to their unique relationship with mana and magic in general, so that was also rather calming.


    Rose smiled lightly and looked over at the table where she had been working. On it was a small mound of rust and a bottle with copper-coloured liquid inside of it. The copper flowers were completely rusted through, so it seemed like Rose managed to pull everything she needed out of it.


    "Is it done already? Can I take this?"


    Rose quickly nodded, "Yes! I don''t know how much you really need, but this is basically the most concentrated version that I could extract from the flowers. Maybe water it down a bit first?"


    Ryan immediately nodded, grinning under his mask, as he turned back around, "Great, I''ll test it out right away!"


    Without hesitation, Ryan turned around and left the small building, rushing back toward the edge of the cave. On the way, he grabbed the biggest bucket he could find and brought it with him. Once he was there, just in case, he had Penny wait downstairs again, though she seemed a bit annoyed about having to sit out here alone all the time, "I''m sorry, but I don''t want to hurt you in case something goes wrong, alright?"


    Penny grumbled lightly and nodded as Ryan took the bucket and brought it upstairs. There was a hose upstairs so that they could clean Kindly, so he could fill it up there, so he could fill the bucket up with that. Once upstairs, Kindly seemed startled. The part that was ''healed'' from the corruption earlier was slowly growing over again, but there were still parts that were fine. So it should be easy enough to properly clean the mimic without letting the corruption take him over again.


    Ryan filled up the bucket and then poured in a splash of the concentrate. He wanted to start with as little of it as he could to see how much was needed to get rid of the corruption. After mixing it together, Ryan grabbed a bowl that was generally used to feed Kindly medicine and scooped up some of the water.


    "Alright, stretch out one of your tentacles," Ryan said, trying to instruct Kindly by stretching his own hand forward. The mimic slowly did as asked, and Ryan poured some of the water over the corrupted spots. The corruption was being cleaned off with ease, crumbling away immediately. Just a fraction of the bottle''s contents in that massive bucket was enough. A broad smile formed on Ryan''s face as he refilled the bowl, splashing more onto Kindly''s tentacle. Bit by bit, he started cleaning up the mimic, and the corruption was fading more and more, until all his exposed areas were rid of it.


    "Okay, Kindly, open up fully now," Ryan said with a smile on his face, patting the ground in front of him though the mimic seemed a little hesitant about that. But Ryan just sat there, patiently waiting, and Kindly carefully opened the wardrobe. Ryan had already seen part of the mimic like this when Modak was treating him, but it was a little different now. Ryan couldn''t open the wardrobe himself like Modak could, and just had to wait for Kindly to come out on his own.


    But still, the mimic came out, revealing the entire mass of corruption that was covering him. It was bulging and pulsating, as if it were alive.


    Ryan quickly continued scooping up bowls of water and poured them over Kindly''s body, trying to get rid of any corruption that he could find. The more he did, the more the mimic seemed to be calming down, as if the pain that he was feeling every day was being cured more and more. But the skin that was revealed underneath the corrupted gunk wasn''t healthy in any sense of the word. It was sore and Kindly was starting to bleed quite a lot. Old wounds were opening up. But with the corruption gone, Rose would be able to properly treat the mimic, and proper healing products could be used to help him out.


    Soon, the corruption was gone almost completely. The only part that was persisting was a large lump at the side of Kindly''s body. It was like the corruption''s heart, trying to spread out rapidly before it died again. The water wouldn''t be enough to get rid of this. Though, at the very least, it seemed to be making it harder for that lump to truly hold onto Kindly''s skin.


    "... Okay, this might be stupid, but..." Ryan filled another bowl and took a deep breath. And then, he pushed forward his hand and grabbed the lump. It was hard, like some kind of stone, so Ryan could hold onto it well enough. But the moment he did, the corruption tried to infect Ryan''s right hand, so he had to hurry. He pulled on the lump and poured the water onto the gap between the lump and Kindly''s body, trying to get rid of the part that connected them. A few moments later, the lump was pulled off Kindly, and Ryan quickly hurried over to the bucket.


    The lump was digging into his skin like it was searing hot, but the moment Ryan submerged it in the water, he was able to pull it off properly.


    His hand was covered in deep sores and felt incredibly numb, but otherwise, he was fine. Looking into the bucket, the water was blackening more and more as the lump, the ''heart'' of the corruption, was being killed off.

 96 - The Seed

    The door to Kindly''s room was practically thrown open as Rose stepped inside. She had gotten everything that was needed to treat the mimic ready, carrying it into the room. But the moment she saw Kindly, the corruption cured from him for the first time, Rose almost dropped everything she was carrying onto the ground.


    "It worked!" her voice was muffled through the hazmat suit''s mask as usual, but Ryan could swear he heard some sniffling. And Ryan certainly understood why. Kindly was, for the first time in basically forever, lively. After Ryan had taken the ''core'' of the corruption off the mimic''s body, Kindly quickly returned into his wardrobe and started walking around. He had pushed some of his tentacles out through the bottom part of the wardrobe and hardened them into spider-like legs.


    Until now, Kindly was too scared to actually move around since he didn''t want to potentially infect anyone with the corruption, but that wasn''t anything he needed to worry about anymore.


    Rose looked over at Ryan, who was sitting near the door, leaning against the wall, "Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means..."


    "Don''t worry about it. Just doing the right thing," Ryan replied, hiding the deep red grooves on his palm that he would need to try and heal later. He looked down at the small stone that he was holding, showing it to Rose, "Have you ever seen something like this?"


    Rose leaned forward, but she just slowly shook her head, "I don''t think so. What is it?"


    "It''s the source of the corruption. After I cleaned everything else off Kindly, there was a lump left. And after I properly got rid of that lump, this stone was left behind," Ryan explained. Rose immediately pulled back.


    "Wh-What? So that''s how Kindly was originally infected? Does it still..."


    "No, it doesn''t have any more corruption in it," Ryan explained, looking over at the large bucket that was filled with dirty black liquid. Even after all that was used up and the ''gunk'' was gone, the stone itself still seemed to have some corruption within it. So Ryan had to use another splash worth of the corruption-curing liquid in the small bottle to get rid of the rest. Just in case, he also poured it over his hand a bit more to make sure he didn''t have anything to worry about.


    But really, that whole situation took a ton out of Ryan. Dealing with corruption was exhausting. Both physically and mentally.


    "I think it''s a seed of some sort," Ryan explained, "I''ll go and ask Gaia to use her inspection skill on it later. Oh, and by the way, did you see Penny down there when you came?"


    Rose nodded in an extremely exaggerated way to make sure that Ryan could see, "I tried to get her to come up with me when I noticed her, but it didn''t seem like she wanted to leave her spot."


    "Right," Ryan sighed loudly. He had asked the young pixie to wait for him downstairs, so she probably didn''t want to leave without his ''permission''. He pushed himself off the ground, doing so with his right hand without thinking. Ryan tried to stop himself from grimacing at the discomfort, and just quickly stepped out of the room. He approached the first step, and as he lifted his foot, Ryan''s sight went white for a moment. It really wasn''t for long, but it was long enough for him to miss the first step.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Silvia''s arms were slung around Fae''s waist, pulling her in closer as the two laid on the elf''s bed. Feeling Fae''s weight on her body, Silvia didn''t want this moment to end, but for a while now, she could tell that Fae wasn''t really into it.


    Right around now, her body should be covered in waves of colour that almost seemed to illuminate the dimly lit space around the two. Silvia had tried to make up for it, wondering if it this was just because the two didn''t know each other that well in this regard just yet, and tried some things that she knew Fae liked, but that didn''t seem to do anything either.


    Almost robotically, Fae pulled in closer for a kiss, but Silvia pressed her hand between their mouths.


    "Alright, what''s going on?" she asked, and a startled Fae slightly moved away. Silvia pulled out from under her girlfriend. She grabbed the remote from her bedside table and turned off the music, "You''re somewhere else right now."


    Fae let out a long sigh, sitting up and leaning against the headboard, "Yeah, I know, I''m... I''m sorry, I was thinking about earlier today."


    "Earlier today? What do you mean?"


    Silvia knelt in front of Fae, confused and concerned, as Fae did something that the elf hadn''t seen from her before. The colours of her body were fading in with the bed, blanket, and pillows, as if she was trying to hide away. This was apparently a subconscious habit that some changelings developed over the generations, particularly those who were as natural at manipulating their pigmentation as Fae was.


    "I saw Ryan talk to that girl that assaulted us at the restaurant," Fae tried to avoid looking at Silvia as much as she could. And Silvia felt a bit taken aback by Fae''s explanation, since it really just caught her completely off-guard.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "What do you mean? When was this?" she asked, not sure what to think. Of course, she believed Fae, but it wasn''t clear where Fae was going with this.


    "When we were in the park, when Ryan suddenly disappeared for a bit. I don''t know what they were talking about, but Ryan was just pretty quiet afterward. His mom and uncle also seemed worried, so I feel like something happened."


    Silvia looked at her girlfriend hesitantly. She knew that there was something more to that woman, since she was clearly related to the ''underworld'' that Silvia was now also a part of to some degree. But it did worry her a bit that Ryan hadn''t mentioned anything about it.


    "And why is that making your so nervous? Maybe Ryan just saw her and confronted her, and then got mad because she''s a little crazy," Silvia suggested, but Fae didn''t seem all too convinced. She was still trying to fade into the objects she was touching. The elf grabbed her girlfriend''s hand and squeezed it tight, "There''s no way you think that Ryan has something to do with her, right?"


    "... I mean, he is a little weird sometimes, right? Like, he gets a new spirit every few weeks, and he keeps getting involved in weird stuff. Every other day you talk about how he got hurt again," Fae pointed out, "Like, I know he''s a good guy, I really do, but don''t you think there''s something weird to him? Plus, his uncle''s caf¨¦ is open maybe half the week sometimes. They''re just... off."


    Silvia smiled and moved closer to Fae, pulling her in for a hug, "Don''t worry, you''ve got nothing to worry about. Yeah, those guys are a little weird, but they''re good people. I''m sure Ryan just kept it a secret because he didn''t want to upset us, but he probably just went to see what the hell her deal was."


    "... I guess you''re right. But what is Ryan even up to these days? He gets hurt so often. Do you think he''s doing something dangerous?"


    Silvia scoffed, "He doesn''t get hurt that often. He''s just busy training and trying to get stronger, so he''s doing training in some kind of dungeon," she explained, "It''s been a while since he got seriously hurt."


    Just then, Silvia''s phone rang. It was the ringtone she had set for Ryan, "Let''s just ask him about it right now!"


    Quickly, Silvia reached over to her phone and quickly answered the call, while the colour slowly faded from Fae''s skin again as she got a bit less nervous, "Hey! Perfect timing, would you-"


    Silvia listened to what the person on the other side of the phone said, slowly closing her eyes. She nodded along, agreeing with something here and there, "Got it, yeah... But you''re fine? So it''s not too bad, alright, that''s good. I''ll come by tomorrow before we were supposed to meet, okay? Got it. See you then."


    Silvia hung up and carefully opened her eyes again, looking at her girlfriend.


    "What''s going on? Did something happen?" Fae asked, and Silvia carefully averted her gaze again.


    "So, uh... Ryan wants my help with something tomorrow morning, but right now, uhm... he''s getting treated because he broke his leg and hurt his head..."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Thanks, dude," Ryan said, running his hands over his leg after he hung up the call, "You''re a real life-saver, you know?"


    Even through the white cloth hanging over most of Kula''s face, Ryan could tell that he was being judged.


    "Rhi-ka so giott. Marki-luin."


    "I don''t know exactly what you''re saying, but I''ll guess that meant I''m an idiot and I should be more careful?" he said with an awkward expression, and Kula nodded his head.


    "Yes," the healer replied, speaking in Riverian to Ryan for the second time, "You''re lucky that your leg was a clean break, but that would on your forehead could have been real dangerous. Take better care of yourself. And maybe consider awakening your resistance stat. You have, what, strength and stamina right now?"


    Ryan nodded, "Yeah, I awakened both of those not too long ago. But resistance training is pretty rough, right?"


    Kula''s cold glare made Ryan silently retract his question. The healer let out a slight sigh, "It may be rough using some of the more straightforward methods. Most people try to build resistance through, for example, getting beaten by others. But for you, I would say the most effective way might be... Pressure and heat. With your numbness to pain-"


    "Hey, hey, I wouldn''t say I''m numb to pain..."


    Kula continued, basically unbothered, "With your numbness to pain, anything like being struck or punctured, which would work for others, will need to get to a dangerous level before it does anything for you. Pressure and heat can be controlled a lot more easily. Just ask your uncle about it."


    Ryan nodded, thankful for the advice, "Right, got it. Will do. And thanks for the help again."


    "... And here I hoped that I wouldn''t need to heal you again... Savir la-kra... you''re lucky I''m still in the area for the remainder of Spirit Week, though I hope I won''t have to come see you for this again" Kula pointed out, and Ryan let out a slightly awkward laugh.


    "Right, sorry. I''ll talk to Runar, yeah," Ryan said, slowly getting up from his seat, "Luckily you have an access token for down here and could come without him, huh?"


    Kula packed up his things and basically immediately moved on, "Mhm. Why were you in such a hurry anyway?"


    "Ah, right! That''s what I need Silvia''s help with. So, as it turns out, the copper flowers that Gaia is growing in the garden upstairs can cure corruption. I helped heal Kindly from his corruption earlier, and I guess the wound on my hand I got from that was a bit rougher than I thought, so I whited out and fell down the stairs," he explained, and Kula just stared at him.


    "I thought that wound on your hand didn''t seem like what you would get from a fall. But still, finding a cure for corruption, huh..? If I ever come across something that I can''t heal due to corruption, then-"


    "Of course, let us know right away," Ryan replied with a smile, and Kula slowly nodded. He went on his way, and Ryan sighed awkwardly. He was sitting in Runar''s office now. Rose got the Forge elemental to help carry him here, so it was waiting outside the door right now. Meanwhile, Penny was nuzzled up in Ryan''s collar, not wanting to leave him alone anymore.


    He had already given up on getting her back into her nest, so he just had to deal with this for the time being. But there was something slightly troublesome. The ''seed'' was gone. The one from inside the corruption. He was very positive that it didn''t fall when Ryan was, well, falling, mostly because there was something new inside of Ryan that he wasn''t all too happy with. He closed his eyes and moved into the space around the domains.


    The spirits were outside celebrating with the people of this hidden village, so the domains themselves were empty. And usually, that white space around the domains should be just as empty, but that wasn''t the case right now. Right below Ryan''s feet, the point that he considered the ''centre'' of this space, something was now embedded in the ground. A small sprout that seemed like it would grow into a sapling, and then later a tree.


    It had grown from the seed after it was pulled into Ryan''s domain after being soaked in his blood after he fell down the steps.


    Like some kind of aspect hidden deep inside of the seed had woken up after noticing the magic inside of Ryan''s blood, it had forced its way through, and was now growing with him.

 97 - Letters

    Ryan squatted down in front of the seed, which had now grown into the beginnings of a sapling. He placed his hand onto it and carefully tugged on it. If he could get rid of this again, then that would be great. That seed came from inside of the corruption, and even if that corrupted aspect was gone now, there was no way that this wouldn''t cause any issues.


    But the moment that Ryan touched it and pulled on it, he could feel an electric pain surge through him. It was like he was trying to tear out an exposed nerve. And with that pain, the whole world shook. And that was quite literal; the space around the domains shook, and so did the domains themselves. Ryan could see the training dummy in Maximus'' domain sway, and some things fell from the shelves in Gregor''s domain. A few glasses even broke. Ryan should apologize for that later, but for now, it was clear that he should stop touching this without a better plan.


    "Why does all this random shit keep happening?" Ryan groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he pulled back out of the domain. He stood up from his seat and looked at his phone. It was about time he headed out to go meet with Maribelle.


    "Penny," Ryan said, looking down at the pixie who was still nuzzled up in his shirt, "I''ve got to go, sorry."


    The pixie looked up at him with a sad expression but still slowly nodded her head. She flapped her wings and flew onto the table, giving Ryan a small wave to say goodbye. Squatting down, Ryan smiled at her, "Don''t worry, I''ll come back soon. Okay?"


    Penny nodded, and Ryan quickly walked back out the door, stuffing the bottle filled with the corruption-curing potion into his bag. Outside of Runar''s office, he saw the spirits waiting for him. Of course, they knew that Ryan had gotten injured, but he insisted that he was fine and that they should continue celebrating with the people from down here for a bit longer, but their concern clearly got to strong.


    "Come on, let''s go," Ryan said, holding his hand out to the spirits waiting in front of him, and they quickly stepped into their domains, "Gregor, some of your stuff fell down just now... I''ll explain it to you on the way up."


    The automaton immediately started cleaning up, obviously a bit annoyed, but since it clearly wasn''t on purpose he just quietly cleaned up. And while the spirits were inside of their domains, Ryan explained to them that something had taken hold in the space around them, but it didn''t seem like anything they knew about or could help with.


    Runar might know about it. But Ryan was still pretty annoyed at him. He called him earlier to talk about the flowers healing corruption, but that was really just because he didn''t think too much about it. But then again, hiding something this important just because he was pissed at his uncle was probably pretty stupid.


    After making his way upstairs again, Ryan quickly went all the way up to the flat. He stood in the doorway of the living room, seeing his mom, Runar, and Liam sitting on the couch, watching something on TV.


    "There you are! Where were you?" Mary asked, quickly standing up, "I wanted to ask you something about..."


    As she came closer to her son, Mary narrowed her eyes. She ran her hand through Ryan''s hair, "Honey, is that blood? Did you get in a fight again?"


    His heart skipping a beat, Ryan grabbed his forehead where his wound was before. Kula was supposed to have healed it all up, but there might have been some residue that Ryan didn''t manage to clean off yet.


    "I was... doing some training to awaken my physicality and fell down and hit my head. But it''s really nothing much, just a small scratch," Ryan explained, pushing his mother''s hand away. She looked at him with a concerned frown.


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, I''m sure. I really didn''t fight anyone, don''t worry," Ryan said, "I''ll just get cleaned up real quick and then head out. I''m meeting up with someone."


    "Don''t you need to go to a doctor? Does it hurt anywhere?" Mary tried to touch at Ryan''s forehead again, but he quickly took a step back.


    "Seriously, it''s all good, don''t worry," he replied, quickly stepping back into the hallway. If his mom kept looking, she would realize that Ryan wasn''t actually hurt anymore. At that point, it would be impossible to convince her that he didn''t get in a fight. It wouldn''t be the first time that Ryan came home covered in blood that wasn''t his own. Though, he obviously wasn''t particularly proud of that.


    He quickly went into the bathroom to get rid of the blood before it could fully dry. He heard soft footsteps approach, and expected his mom to follow him, but instead of her, it was Runar. He stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, writing a rune into the air with his finger.


    Ryan could feel the air change, and the sound of the water flowing out of the tap became duller, "I guess she can''t hear what we talk about?"


    "Unless you scream, no," Runar replied, as Ryan got back to cleaning up his hair, "Alright, so what was this about curing corruption?"


    "Exactly what it sounds like. The copper flowers can cure corruption. I gave Kindly a flower crown made with the copper-"


    "What? Why did you even go in there, I told you that place is off-limits for you."


    Ryan grabbed the towel hanging next to the sink and glanced at his uncle through the mirror, "I''ve been going to visit him every time I''m down there, you know?"


    "Excuse me? Why would-"


    Ryan turned around at his uncle and stared at him. He wasn''t in the mood to have some kind of discussion, and Runar was able to pick up on that pretty quickly. He grumbled slightly, but just moved on mentally.


    "Fine, whatever. So, you did that, and I guess the flowers fought back the corruption? Did Rose manage to extract everything?"


    "I think so. I''ve got the rest of it in my bag. Just a little bit of it was enough to completely wash away the corruption covering Kindly. Rose is treating him right now," he explained, and a smile formed on Runar''s face immediately.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "Really? Do you even know what this means?"


    "That the White Shadow Society tried to create a corrupted dungeon?" Ryan responded, and Runar''s face immediately dropped.


    "Why would it-" he said, and then slowly caught up to what Ryan meant. Runar closed his eyes and nodded, "Yeah, that''s exactly what it means. But Gaia was strong enough to fight back against it, creating a cure for corruption in the process."


    Ryan dried off his hair and approached the door, "Yup. We''ll make sure to plant more of the copper flowers. I already asked Silvia to come by tomorrow, I want her to make something that can speed up their growth even more," he explained, getting ready to pull the door open. He figured the spell his uncle activated wouldn''t work anymore once he did. But before he could, Runar pressed his hand against the door.


    "I get that you don''t really want to talk to me right now, but at the very least tell me what happened earlier. I know you called Kula, and I also know that you wouldn''t bother him just because you got hurt during practice. Was it Kindly? Did he hurt you while you were cleaning him off?"


    Ryan stared at his uncle in a bit of disbelief, "What? No, of course not. Kindly is super calm, I don''t get why you keep getting so-" Ryan interrupted himself. He didn''t want to start a fight right now, "I hurt my hand while helping Kindly, yes. But not because of him, but because there was this big lump stuck to him that I could only get rid of by tearing it off him. So I touched some corruption, but before you freak out, I completely cleaned my hand off with the potion. But it was still sore and I got a bit lightheaded when I was walking down the stairs, so... you know."


    Runar''s expression of worry immediately turned into an angry frown, "What? Are you serious? Why do you keep doing things like that? You could have died, you have to be more careful!"


    "Oh gods, not this again... yes, I know I could have gotten hurt, I''m not an idiot. I know how much I can take."


    "No, you don''t. Kula messaged me after he was done treating you and reiterated how messed up your sense of pain is, so what the hell do I have to do to get you to understand that you can''t just keep putting yourself in danger like that?"


    Ryan glared at his uncle, "And what do I have to do to get you to understand that I''m not a little kid? I told you, I know how much I can take, and what is too much. Corruption hurts, sure, but I had a bottle that could cure it right next to me."


    "That''s not the point, you-"


    "Why do you suddenly care?" Ryan interrupted him, "You never cared when I''d come home with bruises, cuts, or black eyes. You''d just ignore all the wounds I had. Or well, I guess you''d refill the healing salve that we keep in the kitchen."


    "... That''s not fair, I just... I just didn''t want to get too involved in your life, I was worried I would pull you into all this."


    "Oh yeah, how could you <i>ever</i> pull me into a life with more money than I could ever dream of where I, at the same time, can do something that actually matters? How dare you do something so selfish?" he replied sarcastically, his hand shaking in anger. It was rattling the door handle that it was laying on.


    Runar rubbed the bridge of his nose, "That''s obviously not what I meant."


    "I used to write you letters, you know?" Ryan replied, "I tried to ask you for help back then. One time when <i>he</i> locked me in the closet, I managed to sneak a flashlight. I was terrified of the dark, so I tried to do anything I could to distract myself. That''s when I found my dad''s old stuff. Some old model kit. And in there was a note addressed to me, telling me that it was one of my father''s favourite models, and that he was sorry he couldn''t be there to build it with me. He apologized for a lot of things, but at the end, he said that you would always be there to help when it mattered the most."


    The two stood there in silence that was only filled by Ryan''s heavy breathing, "So I trusted him. And I started writing you letters and would sneak them into the post box on the way to school. I would ask you to come and help us. To come and save us from that man," Ryan held his shoulder, grabbing at the top of his back, "But you never came. So I just had to take that literal torture. And one day, after he dumped hot coals onto me to punish me for not putting out the fireplace in time, I realized that you were never gonna come. That I had to help myself, and become the hero that I wanted you to be."


    Ryan pulled open the door, stepping out into the hallway, "So don''t you dare act like you of all people know better what I can and can''t handle when you never cared before I was useful to you."


    Grabbing his backpack, Ryan pulled out his phone. It luckily wasn''t a long way to the botanical gardens, so he could just walk and clear his head a bit. Slamming the door behind himself, Ryan rushed down the steps and walked out of the building before anyone could call out to him from behind. He grabbed his headphones from his backpack and pulled them over his head, trying to just let everything else fade away. He was so, so mad, and just had to cool down a bit.


    "Sorry you guys had to see that," Ryan whispered, speaking to the spirits, but they tried to act like nothing was wrong. Except for one.


    <hr>


    [Jester''s Excitement has risen slightly]


    <hr>


    "Go fuck yourself, you sadistic prick," Ryan pushed away the system window, continuing to walk through the alleyways of oldtown. He really didn''t need Jester to bother him right now. Fights weren''t the only things that seemed to raise his excitement. Basically, any sort of strong emotion did the job as well. Anything that got Ryan''s heart beating fast. And of course, whenever Ryan got mad, his heart beat like hell. He just had a bit of a good streak for a while now, so he hasn''t been getting angry just as much recently. Ryan wanted that to continue, but obviously, those things waned and waxed. And right now, it was waxing like hell.


    "Let''s just get this over with," Ryan grumbled, starting to move into a jog. With the way his awakened stamina was now, he didn''t have to worry about getting out of breath until he reached the botanical gardens. And running helped Ryan clear his mind a little.


    Before long, he reached the park. There were still some people here and there, enjoying the additional lights that were put up here for Porsa''s day in advance as the sun went down. But Ryan was headed straight for the botanical gardens. They should already be closed right now, though, so maybe he was too late. But for some reason, the door was still open, and there weren''t any security guards around either.


    Figuring that maybe they kept the botanical gardens open for a bit longer today, Ryan went inside and navigated to the spot where Maribelle should be waiting for him right now. But as he walked through the paths in the gardens, he realized that something was off. It was all way too... dark. The paths should be lit by those lanterns at the side.


    Ryan had a bad feeling. He continued walking toward the greenhouse, where Maribelle was supposed to live. That place was illuminated due to some of the flowers that grew in there that gave off a lot of bioluminescent light. Like following a beacon, Ryan soon stepped inside the greenhouse.


    And in the centre of the space was a large flower, the original flower that Maribelle was born from. A viscous black liquid was dripping down the petals, practically sucking in the light that the surrounding flowers were giving off. Sitting atop those petals, like a queen sitting on her crown, was Maribelle, crying black tears as her body was being taken over.


    "Well, well, I figured we might get an interruption, but to think it would be <i>you</i> of all people," a familiar voice said with genuine surprise. A young gnome stepped out of the darkness.


    "Richie..? What are you doing here?" Ryan looked at the gnome, barely recognizing him. Just glancing at him made Ryan''s skin crawl. That slicked-back hair, the way he carried himself. This wasn''t the Richie that Ryan knew. Plus, that sparrow pin on his chest, "You work for Bluesky now?"


    "That he does," someone said from behind Ryan. He had been too distracted by Richie to realize someone was coming up from behind him. But now, Ryan turned around, and saw another familiar face. One that he couldn''t forget even though he absolutely wanted to. It was the man with half a face covered in burn scars; the gunman that, just a couple weeks ago, had shot Ryan multiple times over in the Channel. And once again, he was pointing a gun at Ryan''s face.

 98 - Fighting Back

    "Okay, so... what the fuck is going on here exactly?" Ryan asked, trying to suppress a nervous laugh. The man standing in front of him grimaced slightly, as if he was annoyed.


    "Fancy seeing you here. Didn''t think I''d have the pleasure," the gunman pointed out, as his finger was laying tight on the trigger.


    "Yeah, same, I really hoped I would never have to see your ugly fucking mug again," with a scoff, Ryan turned his head toward Richard, "You seriously work with these guys now? What happened to you?"


    The gnome glanced down at the watch on his wrist, "Hm... I guess we have a bit of time to waste on this."


    "Are you going to answer me, or not?"


    "Rather impatient, aren''t you? Though, I assume you aren''t particularly known for your level-headedness," Richard pointed out, holding his hands together behind his back, "Fine, we should have time for three questions. Make them count."


    Ryan''s mind started to race. He had no idea what was going on right now. During that short call with Richie the other day, he could feel that something was wrong with him, but he figured he would have just been busy at his new job and didn''t have time to chat, but this was completely out of the realm of what Ryan could have expected. Even more so than Kindly did, Richie was giving off an air of corruption like none other. Just looking at him made breathing feel hard. And that wasn''t even mentioning Maribelle, who was currently actively undergoing some kind of corruption. Ryan had to stop it somehow.


    But first... "What are you doing here?"


    "My job. Next question."


    "What do you know about me?"


    "You''re Ryan Aglecard, you awakened a unique class. You''re extremely violent and brutish, using your natural physical capabilities to enact your own sort of justice. Next."


    Ryan stared at the gnome, grinding his teeth together. He closed his eyes, annoyed. Those two questions were basically enough for Ryan to get a gist of the situation. Richie was hired by Bluesky. His job was to spread the corruption to spirits for some reason. Did they corrupt him, or... did that spark of corruption from the rampaging ''Energizer'' during the Power Duel tournament do this to him? Not that it changed anything about Ryan''s current situation.


    Either way, Richie didn''t know all too much about what was going on yet. Maybe he was filled in on the fact that the ''Spirit Keeper'' was an important class, but he probably didn''t know everything about the Aglecards or the White Shadow Society yet. Maybe some surface-level things.


    Ryan could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he got a feeling of what would happen after he asked his third question. He glanced to the side for a moment, mentally watching the spirits prepare as well.


    "Hm..." Ryan started, slightly tilting his head to the side, "You like having all your teeth?"


    Richie''s almost bored expression turned into a sour grimace as he looked over at the gunman next to Ryan. Just as he had been preparing to, the man pulled the trigger, but Ryan knew this was about to happen and already dropped down. As he did and the first bullet passed by over his head, Maximus jumped out of his domain right onto Ryan''s shoulder. He swung the elemental greatsword at the gunman''s hand, cleanly slicing through his trigger-finger and throwing away the gun. The sword wasn''t large enough to properly reach the rest of the man''s hand from where Ryan and Maximus were right now, but that was fine.


    Ryan reached out his hand to try and catch the gun, but it was flung away too far. Gregor jumped out of his domain and reached out to the gun in Ryan''s stead, throwing it over to him. The moment it laid in Ryan''s hand, he could tell that he wouldn''t be able to use it. It was a mana-locked gun; it needed to read the user''s unique mana signature to be activated, so Ryan wouldn''t be able to use it. So, instead, Tiar came in.


    The gun was torn apart like it was made of paper, quickly turning into the form of a dagger with a jagged edge, Ripper. At this point, the gunman was pulling back his hand as blood spewed out from his hand. With his other hand, he was instinctively trying to pull out the other gun holstered at his hip, some kind of assault rifle. Ryan tried to swing the unfinished Ripper at the gunman, but by then he had already built some more distance. Like this, Ryan wouldn''t be able to do anything. He knew that he wouldn''t be able to close the distance before he could shoot his gun. It was probably loaded and ready to go, just in case.


    The man grimaced in pain as he placed his middle finger onto the trigger of the rifle, and got ready to pull. By then, Gaia stepped out of the domain and Ryan unsealed her, letting her size double. The bulky golem wrapped her body around Ryan''s as the man shot at him. Her solid rock body was strong enough to block the bullets. Though Ryan didn''t like using the non-combatant Gaia as a shield, she was the one that jumped in the way to make this happen. Maximus and Gregor were pulled back into their domains for the time being. Especially Gregor was useless in a fight right now, since Ryan didn''t have any cannons with him at the moment, so keeping him in the domain as much as possible was much preferred.


    By the time the shots stopped, Tiar had fully taken apart the gun and turned it into Ripper. The dagger laid solidly in Ryan''s hand. Using this against a monster was one thing, and using it to defend himself against another person was another. This dagger was specifically made to create deep wounds that would continue bleeding; it was a weapon made to injure and kill. That meant that if Ryan wanted to avoid killing anyone, he had to be extremely careful.


    But just as he was thinking that, Ryan could feel his pocket heat up, and panic set in. He pulled his phone out immediately and threw it away, watching it blow up. Richard clicked his tongue, lowering his hand. He had made Ryan''s phone malfunction and had the battery blow up; this was something more than easy enough for a technomancer to do.


    "Fucking psychopath," Ryan groaned as Gaia slowly let go of him. They were relentlessly attacking him, intending to kill him without a moment''s hesitation. Sure, Ryan had fought with guys that said stuff like ''I''ll kill'' you plenty of times before, but usually that was something they said to sound tough. After being punched a few times, they would shut up and run away. But these guys? They were serious. Ryan knew that the gunman was willing to kill. He had shot his former superior into the back of the head, after all.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Ryan racked his brain, trying to come up with a solution for this. He couldn''t call for help anymore now that his phone was broken. Richard had probably shut down anything resembling a security system already as well. The spirits couldn''t go and call someone for help either, since they couldn''t get far enough away from Ryan for something like that. Not that there was anyone that could help in the first place. Ryan had walked here instead of calling for Yamada to drive him as he usually did.


    That meant he really only had one choice, and that was to use the dagger in his hand to do what it was made for. He took a deep breath, inwardly looking at Maximus who was getting ready to jump back out. Ryan''s mind was racing, and he could hear the gunman''s footsteps as he carefully walked around Gaia to shoot straight at him. Richard must also be preparing to try something else right now.


    "Fuck, fuck, fuck..."


    "What''s the matter, Ryan? Getting scared?" Richard scoffed, seemingly trying to pull something out of his pocket.


    "Scared? No, I just..." Ryan grabbed his chest, feeling his heartbeat get faster and faster, "It''s been a while since I got into a proper rumble like this."


    The gunman''s footsteps stopped and Richard looked over at Ryan stunned. All the gnome could see as he peeked through Gaia''s arms was Ryan''s nervous grin with some clear, underlying excitement.


    Almost panicking, Richard pulled the item out of his pocket and threw it at Ryan. He could see that it was some kind of small drone. It was unfolding itself and was made of blades that were twisting around each other, ready to rip into anyone they came across.


    But that was fine. Ryan could deal with this.


    Ryan pulled Gaia back into her domain, making the golem''s body fall apart into strands of green. But even before the mana was even being drawn back into his body, Ryan jumped backward through the mass of mana, and then let Gaia''s body materialize again. As Ryan twisted around, he linked with Gaia and had her deploy her three sub golems that immediately scattered around the room.


    Though, before the sub golems even dropped to the ground, Ryan was already facing the gunman again. Dropped to the ground, squatting down, Ryan slashed Ripper forward and tore through the side of the man''s knee. As if by reflex, the man pulled the barrel of his rifle downward and released some shots that were sprinkled in a jagged line over the ground, drawing closer and closer to Ryan with each bullet.


    Ryan grabbed onto the grooves of the gunman''s body armour and tried to pull him down using his own bodyweight, but it wasn''t enough. This man was physically strong and well-trained. Even if he wasn''t an awakened, he was easily strong enough to take Ryan on in a fight. But Ryan wasn''t alone.


    Maximus jumped out of the domain and once more slashed his sword at the gunman. The man tried to pull back out of the range that he expected from the Knight''s blade considering what happened before, but this time, Ryan unsealed Maximus and doubled his size, meaning that his range also doubled. The spirit cut deep into the man''s chest. Much of the attack was lightened by the tough body armour, but Ryan could still see a deep, gashing wound.


    Ryan reached up and grabbed the new hold that was created in the body armour and pulled the unbalanced man back, kicking at his injured knee to throw him toward Gaia. The golem immediately pressed her foot down onto the man''s back before he could try to push himself back up, and her sheer weight was enough to prevent him from getting back up. But the gunman wasn''t the only threat that Ryan had to deal with. The drone was still shooting straight for him. Because of the link with Gaia that allowed him to view the whole space through the sub golems, he was able to avoid it pretty skilfully so far, but Richard had just thrown some more into the air and they were flying straight at him.


    Maximus jumped up into the air and swung his blade toward the small, dangerous drones. The knight shattered them apart with just a single swing of his sword. Ryan as well tried to hit them with the sort of accuracy that he needed. Within just a few moments, the gunman was trapped under Gaia''s foot and Richard''s drones were shattered. There weren''t many other electronics here, and without that, Richard wouldn''t be able to do anything.


    "So... want to give me another couple of questions?" Ryan asked, staring at the gnome in front of him.


    "Not particularly," Richard replied. Somehow, he was far too calm right now.


    "Just tell me what happened. I think I might be able to help you, so just tell me and we can figure something out," trying to get the gnome to accept his help, Ryan took a step toward him. But Richard still just stood there, clearly unbothered.


    "I don''t think so, no. I''m rather happy like this. It feels good. So why would I need your help?" the gnome said with a slight laugh, "Also, don''t be so cocky just because you managed to get rid of some toys I made for fun."


    Ryan could hear mechanical clicking from the corner of the room. He directed one of the sub golems toward the source of the noise, seeing a few metal cases set up, as Richard continued.


    "I was going to put them here as an extra security measure to make sure that Maribelle could properly mature in peace, but I guess I might as well use them now," with a snap of the technomancer''s finger, the metal cases opened up. Within them, half a dozen half-metre tall robotic dolls were revealed. They were Roxie models. A lot simpler in their design, sure, but they were very clearly based off the same blueprints. Just that they were scaled up a bit. The Roxie robots, which Ryan and Maximus had fought in the past, immediately started running toward the closest spirit. Or rather, in this case, they were headed straight toward the sub golems.


    The robots'' bulky hands shifted into spikes that were pushed into the gaps of the sub golems'' bodies with ease, tearing the individual rocks away from their bodies. One after another, before Ryan could even react properly, his connection to the sub golems disappeared.


    "Fuck."


    "That sounds like an appropriate reaction," Richard said with a quiet laugh, as his hands moved around the air at rapid speeds. He was actively controlling those robots. Immediately, Ryan ran toward Richard. Facing six robots with sharp spikes as hands was far too dangerous. Knocking out Richard should be safer and easier. Meanwhile, Maximus went to try and fend off the robots for at least a moment, though that really didn''t work.


    Somehow, before Ryan even knew it, the robots closed the distance between them and Richard with ease, surrounding him protectively. Just like the original Roxie, they moved at ridiculous speed that clearly came from transforming magical energies into kinetic energies, allowing them to accelerate at speeds incomparable to normal.


    "Coward," Ryan barked out, but Richard simply shrugged.


    "Better a coward than lose my teeth, wouldn''t you think?"


    "Just take it easy, man. Why do you even want to kill me? Just because you guys can''t have the Spirit Keeper class?" Ryan asked. Richard scoffed and shook his head.


    "Why would I care about that? I was just told to get rid of any witnesses," as Richard said this, he glanced down at his wrist watch again. He seemed to get a bit impatient, "Not that it really matters anymore."


    As if he was a bit annoyed, Richard turned around, "I don''t really have time to play with you anymore. I would rather not be here while that happens to Maribelle," he said, glancing over at the gunman under Gaia''s foot, "As for that guy... he already lost to you twice now, apparently. So just do me a favour and finish him off, I''m sure my supervisors don''t have a use for him anymore anyway."


    Ryan glared at Richard as he started walking toward the door of the greenhouse. The robots were blocking the way so that Ryan couldn''t get through. But Ryan quickly felt exactly why he was trying to get away. All the plants in the room were starting to release that sticky black liquid from them as the flower spirit''s corruption proceeded.

 99 - Maribelle

    The ink-black liquid poured out of all the flowers in the room. The petals were being dyed in its colour, and even the soil underneath them was soaking in all the drops that fell onto it. It was streaming down the edges of the plant beds and forming a puddle on the ground that was creeping ever closer to Ryan.


    He looked over toward Maribelle. She was seated atop the largest flower in the greenhouse, leaning against its petals like sitting on a throne. Her pale green skin was almost completely white, and the dress made of petals was black and torn, like the petals were too weak to keep themselves together anymore, rotting away on Maribelle''s body.


    Her wings were similar. Before, they were a light floral pink and mostly translucent, but now, they were almost completely torn apart, barely still hanging onto the spirit''s back. It was a truly infuriating sight to Ryan. He could feel his anger well up inside of him more and more.


    "Shit," Ryan pulled his bag off his back and pushed his hand inside. He luckily didn''t have to search for the bottle for all too long. He quickly pulled the slightly golden liquid out of the bag. It was still mostly full, and should be enough to help Maribelle out. He just had to find a way to properly give it to her. He couldn''t tell for sure, but this corruption was different to the one that Kindly was afflicted with. While for the mimic, it was like a slug or a parasite that had latched onto him from the outside, Maribelle''s was more  deeply ingrained, just as Richie''s was. It permeated throughout her whole body, inside and out, pulled deep into the roots. And it wasn''t just her own body. All the plants in this space were affected by the corruption.


    Ryan figured that Maribelle had some kind of ability that gave her control over all the plants in, at the very least, this greenhouse. He had to cure those of the corruption as well. He glanced down at the gunman, who was still being pressed down under Gaia''s foot, unable to get up from under the tight trap.


    "He left you behind," Ryan pointed out, squatting down in front of the man. He groaned in pain, and in the end just laughed.


    "As he should. I''m jeopardizing the mission," he pointed out. His voice still sounded as disgusting as Ryan remembered it, so he really wasn''t able to hold back a scowl.


    "And you''re not worried you''re going to be corrupted? It hurts like a bitch, you know?"


    The man actually hesitated for a few moments, "Then so be it."


    "... Fucking hell, do the shadows have some kind of dirt on you? Are they blackmailing you? Holding someone hostage?" Ryan asked, grimacing annoyed, "Or are you just that much of as bootlicker that you see these big guys with power and think you have to do anything you can do get on their good side?"


    "Money."


    "What?" taken aback, Ryan stared down at him.


    "They pay good money, that''s all."


    With an annoyed groan, Ryan stood back up properly. He didn''t have any time to waste on a guy like this anymore. He hoped he would maybe be able to tell him something to, at the very least, get him to stop fighting back until all this was solved, but that clearly wasn''t going to work. So, instead, Ryan just shut him up another way. With a swift kick, he was knocked out long enough for Ryan to pick him up. He was pretty damn heavy with all that body armour, but Ryan still managed to drag him over all the way to the entrance. If he couldn''t convince this psychopath not to interrupt Ryan, at the very least, he could throw him out. Of course, he would have liked to call Yamada or Runar or maybe even the police to have this guy arrested, but with his phone blown up by Richie, that wasn''t an option either. And it wasn''t like Ryan could just kill this guy, either. Even if he seemed like the kind of guy that would be welcomed in a VIP suite in hell, the idea of killing someone made Ryan sick to the pit of his stomach.


    "Oh, come on!" Ryan yelled out as he tried to push against the greenhouse''s door to open it. It was locked all of a sudden. And considering the electronical lock on the door and the half-dozen robots standing guard right outside of it, it was obvious that Richie had locked Ryan in here. The greenhouse''s windows were safety glass as well, and Ryan wasn''t strong enough to shatter it cleanly to get this guy outside, plus, the Roxies could attack him if he tried.


    So, instead, Ryan threw the mercenary onto the ground, and looked around. There were some vines that seemed sturdy enough. While Ripper was still usable, Ryan walked over and cut off as much of the vines as he could. They were pretty damn sturdy, but he managed to cut through it easily enough anyway with the saw-like blade. Using those vines, Ryan quickly tied the mercenary up by the door, tying him to some metal railings. He managed to do it just in time for Tiar''s skill to run out, and Ripper fell apart onto the ground into its individual pieces.


    With that in mind, Ryan rushed back toward the greenhouse''s main space, where Maribelle was patiently waiting for him. She stared down at Ryan from her flower throne. This corruption was different to the ones that Ryan had experienced so far. The one that had taken over Energiser was one that caused a rampage. It was similar to the one that had seemingly affected the berserker that ended up destroying part of the Channel. And then there was Kindly''s corruption; while it didn''t take him over and make him act off, the corruption itself was physically much more aggressive, trying to take over the mimic.


    The first kind corrupted reason, making them mindless monsters. The second corrupted the body, breaking it down. And this one? Just looking at Richie, it was like it corrupted their personality, twisting them into something worse. At the very least, they were clearly much more in control. The corruption, once it took hold, wasn''t as aggressive as before. Frankly, it was probably the best thing for the white shadow society''s goals. But it was also much more dangerous. Ryan couldn''t imagine what would happen to the spirits that were with him if they were to be infected by this.


    "Maribelle, are you okay?" he asked, taking a few steps toward the flower spirit. Gaia, Maximus, and Gregor were inside their domains where they were a bit more safe.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Maribelle snarled at Ryan. That bright smile from earlier today turned into a sharp, predatory growl.


    "Listen, I can help you, you just have to let me. Please," Ryan looked up at the spirit. She was sitting higher up than before. Much higher, really. It happened without Ryan even fully noticing. Was Maribelle larger than she was earlier too? Initially, she was Gaia''s size, about a metre tall, but now she had to be around as tall as the average human.


    A deeply uncanny sensation ran through Ryan''s mind. Things were off, really, really off. He didn''t know when it happened, sometime on the way back here from the entrance, but the greenhouse was larger than before. The flowers, taller and more plentiful than when Ryan first arrived. The air became extremely saturated with mana in an all too familiar way. It was like this place was being turned into a dungeon. Or at least something similar to it. If he had to pinpoint it, it was actually closer to... a domain.


    Domains were spaces that all spirits were supposed to have, not just the ones that were with Ryan. Like a representation of their magic, their essence, and most importantly, their ''concept''. Were dungeons and domains similar in that way? Though that idea was interesting to Ryan, he didn''t have the time to really think about that right now. He knew of Maribelle''s powers, and inside of their domain, a spirit was basically a god. And if Maribelle could deploy that domain here, then her powers would be just that much stronger here than normal.


    Regular spirits'' powers seemed to act rather different to that of the spirits that were ''awakened'' through the Spirit Keeper class. Frankly, a normal spirit should be much more powerful than the spirits that were with Ryan. They shouldn''t have the sort of restraints that they had at the moment, but frankly, that might again be part of the ''seal'' that was placed on them. And Maribelle, as a flower spirit, could manipulate many different plants, plenty of which were starting to get uncomfortably close to Ryan. Roots were crawling over the ground like snakes, slithering toward his legs, and leaves were speedily growing to cover the greenhouse''s windows, blocking out the tiny bit of light that was supposed to be coming from outside. The only thing that was left was the soft, ethereal glow of the bioluminescent flowers growing around this space. This light was waving and shaking back and forth, throwing dark shadows in all directions. The pink glow of the flowers was the only thing that Ryan could use to see at this point.


    "Come on, you don''t have to do this!" Ryan exclaimed, trying to talk to Maribelle. By now, he was surrounded by tall leaves and flowers and wasn''t able to see the spirit anymore. Not that he was necessarily trying to see her either. Rather, Ryan was just trying to push through without touching the corruption. Though, there was already much less of it freely flowing around, like it was being fully absorbed by all the plants.


    "You were grown by Gaia, right? I came here because you wanted to see her again! Just get rid of all these plants, and we-" Ryan started as he pushed away the large leaf in front of him. But when he did, a large vine whipped at him. It hit Ryan straight into the stomach, throwing him backward. He was still carefully holding onto the corruption cure. If Ryan lost or broke this bottle, then he was screwed. He had to be careful.


    As he landed, clutching the bottle closely, Ryan tried to take in a deep breath, but that vine just knocked all the air out of his lungs. He could tell that the spirits wanted to come out to help him, but that was too dangerous to Ryan. Corruption specifically infected magic, and as beings with bodies created by magic, they weren''t able to defend against it the same way that Ryan could. Rather, because of Tiar being with him, he should be able to hold back the corruption for a while even if he was drenched in it, since the symbiote was able to physically push back against it.


    Carefully, Ryan made his way through the thicket. This whole thing reminded him quite a bit of the pranks that the dryads would try to play on him, making plants grow along the path in a way that he was guided into what was basically a labyrinth of their creation. Similarly, Ryan found himself in a maze of roots and leaves.


    Again and again, roots would try to wrap themselves around his limbs to slow him down, while leaves grew right in front of him to prevent him from proceeding. And if that didn''t work, vines would whip at him. But either way, all of this seemed mostly defensive.


    "You''re still fighting against it, aren''t you? Just hold out a bit longer! And don''t-" once more, Ryan was interrupted by a vine. But this time, instead of being hit in the stomach by it, Ryan was able to drop down and dodge under it, taking advantage of the path that was opened to let the vine snap at him. The whole time, Ryan was following a specific object along the ceiling. Once he got to where that pipe was leading him, he should be able to undo all of this.


    A sickly sweet smell entered Ryan''s nostrils. It was genuinely disgusting, like someone had eaten a bag of sugar and then thrown it all back up. Ryan heard something dripping down from above him, hitting his arm. It wasn''t the corruption, at least; he was already hyper-focused on that. No, it was something else. It dug through Ryan''s shirt and soon hit his skin, burning like acid.


    "Fuck-" Ryan swatted his arm trying to get rid of it, glancing up. It was a pitcher plant, a carnivorous plant. And what dripped down at him was its digestive fluids mixed with its nectar. Ryan knew that they had some carnivorous plants here at the botanical gardens, but he had no idea that Maribelle could control them. Either way, that wasn''t important. The pitcher plant was slowly tipping over. And it wasn''t the only one; numerous head-sized pitcher plants were hanging from the ceiling, bulging with digestive fluids, carefully tipping over as Ryan walked forward.


    Without hesitation, Ryan pushed forward, trying to push through the thick leaves and roots as fast as he could, avoiding the digestive fluids from tearing him apart. He got some splashes and droplets onto him here and there, digging through his clothes and eating apart his skin. Ryan was able to somehow keep it to a minimum, but it was still painful and startling. The fluid was so potent that if Ryan got hit by a full pitcher of it, he wouldn''t get away from it that easily.


    He just needed to get through to the end of the pipes. If he did, then he could let Maximus out of his domain and he could cut down the plants while they went back to Maribelle to stop her.


    And just as he thought that, Ryan reached a room at the back of the greenhouse that the pipes were leading into. The door was locked, but Ryan jumped against it again and again, almost dislodging his shoulder in the process, when the door finally gave in. And there it was; the sprinkler system. There was a large water reservoir that was made to hold mana-enriched water, a system that the botanical gardens were extremely proud of. Ryan climbed on top of the tanks using the metal railings. He couldn''t see much, but with the plants slowly encroaching into this room, he could at least tell that the water wasn''t clear as it should be.


    "This must be what Richie used to infect Maribelle..." Ryan clicked his tongue, opening the bottle he was still tightly clutching. He didn''t know how much he needed, but he would rather be safe than sorry. They could always grow more of the wildflowers if needed. So, Ryan poured the rest of what was left in the bottle into the reservoir. Almost immediately, he could hear something like a hissing sound, as if the corruption was screaming out in pain.


    Looking around, Ryan glanced at the buttons along the wall, and quickly ran up to them. He hit the button to turn the sprinklers on, hearing the pumps pull the cure-water out of the massive tank.

 100 - Cured

    The pumps started up with a loud droning sound, pushing the water inside of the tanks throughout the greenhouse. Ryan wasn''t sure exactly how well things would work, with the space of the greenhouse being distorted by Maribelle''s domain, but it didn''t take long until the sprinklers closest to Ryan got started.


    The corruption that was clinging to the plants closest to the pump room was being largely washed away, though there was of course another issue. This breed of corruption had taken much deeper hold on all these plants than Kindly''s corruption had. Washing things away on a surface level wasn''t enough. The cure-water needed to be pulled in and truly flow throughout the plants, but that was really  just a matter of time at this point. As the water seeped into the ground, the plants would absorb it and hopefully get cured. But that wasn''t all. It was like the air itself was being cured of the corrupted atmosphere as the water was shot out of the sprinklers.


    Of course, this didn''t change anything about the fact that until Maribelle herself was properly cured, she would still attack Ryan and try to kill him. Vines and roots were already climbing their way into the room, getting ready to pounce like some wild animal. But now that there was a constant cure flowing through the space, Ryan didn''t have to act defensively anymore. He held forward his hand and finally let out Maximus. He appeared with the greatsword Granfell already tightly grasped, and Ryan didn''t hesitate to undo the seal on Maximus, doubling the knight''s size and allow him to more effectively cut down the plants trying to invade the room. For now, Ryan wanted to take a quick breather in here. He had to wait until the sprinklers properly spread everything throughout the greenhouse. Plus, this was the first time he had the opportunity to think about what he actually had to do right now.


    What if this corruption was different, and couldn''t be undone in the same way that Kindly''s had been? It seemed generally effective, but that was mostly in regard to the black gunk that was dripping from some of these plants. He really had no idea what happened to someone of the corruption to that sort of deep hold on a spirit.


    "Gaia, do you know anything? Even if it''s not something you remember, you''re the one that created the flowers that can cure corruption. Plus, you apparently grew Maribelle''s flower," Ryan pointed out, speaking to the spirit as she sat in her domain contemplatively. She was already trying to figure out the same thing, apparently. But in the end, Gaia just shook her head, albeit rather hesitantly.


    "Really? Nothing at all?" Ryan asked again. He was a little desperate at this point. He didn''t want to hurt Maribelle, but if she couldn''t be cured from this right away, then using force to subdue her seemed like one of the few things he could actually do. Tie her down, or maybe he could steal her flower and bring her somewhere she couldn''t hurt anyone while they figured out something else. But it didn''t seem like Gaia had any sort of an idea of how to help Maribelle if things didn''t work out with the corruption cure. Though, she seemed rather apologetic. Ryan quickly shook his head.


    "No, don''t worry, we''ll figure something out if we need to. For now, let''s just hope that the cure works," Ryan muttered, walking back over to the water tanks. He filled up the bottle that the cure was in earlier with some of the water. It wasn''t as effective this watered down, but it should still be enough to work in an emergency if either Ryan or Maximus got hit with some corruption.


    Maximus was currently fighting back against the plants that were trying to come into the room. Ryan was watching them carefully, trying to see any sort of sign that something could be going on with Maribelle. And when all the plants in the main part of the greenhouse started to practically shiver, Ryan realized that this was as good a signal he was ever going to get.


    Together with Maximus, he rushed out of the room. The knight skilfully moved around and cut through any leaves or vines that were blocking the way or trying to attack, while Ryan made sure to keep the both of them out of the way of the remaining pitcher plants that were trying to pour acid down onto them. That being the case, as Ryan and Maximus ran through the space, it was already extremely clear that the corruption really was being washed away. Maribelle''s control over this area was fading away. And Ryan doubted that the corruption did anything to enhance the flower spirit''s powers, but rather, it was just that now that the corruption''s influence had weakened, Maribelle was starting to fight back against it.


    Spirits weren''t weak beings. While they seemed prone to being corrupted in this kind of way, once they had a proper hold on what was going on, they should be able to fight against it. It was the same with Gaia; a splinter of her core had somehow managed to simply fight off the corruption placed onto it and even created a cure for corruption in the process.


    It didn''t take long until Ryan and Maximus got back to the greenhouse''s main area. The massive leaves still blocked out most of the light coming in from outside, but the light from the luminescent flowers had gotten much stronger than when Ryan left earlier. By now, he was completely drenched in water carrying the cure, so even if he got touched by any of the corruption here, he should be able to fend it off to some degree. Which was good, because even if the rest of the greenhouse seemed to be steadily cleansed, Maribelle herself wasn''t quite yet. Some of the water was dripping through, but the flower spirit had pushed leaves over her head and was protecting herself from the sprinklers. Herself and the flower that she came from were the only parts there that weren''t being hit by the cure just yet, but it seemed to be enough to make the corruption in Maribelle wane.


    Ryan looked at the spirit in front of him, practically staring into her eyes, "Come on, Maribelle! You can do this, you can fight this off!"


    Maximus walked around the area, circling to a different part of the room as Ryan continued to speak to the flower spirit. Of course, Maribelle was still affected by the corruption, and it was something that was very clearly shown to Ryan as more and more vines and roots slithered into the area from surrounding parts of the greenhouse. It was like Maribelle was trying to focus all of her influence onto this one spot. The pitcher plants were moved closer toward Ryan as well, basically creating a circle around him to prevent him from getting anywhere. But instead of pouring it all down onto Ryan, Maribelle was hesitating.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    At this point, Ryan really just had to buy some time for Maximus. Maribelle was completely hyper focused on Ryan, so the knight was able to practically sneak around, cutting away the leaves and roots in his way. Maximus soon reached the other side of the room, climbing up some of the plants until he got close enough to the pipes. With a quick slash, Maximus cut through the thin metal pipes and let out a powerful stream of water that was gushing all over the small dome of leaves that Maribelle had created to protect herself from the water.


    Maximus jumped down onto the leaves and cut them apart with some quick slashes, letting the water hit the flower spirit directly. She was drenched in the water, and as if dye was being washed off her, her hair and the petals on her body turned back to their originally vibrant pink. Her skin was also lightening more and more, but Maribelle''s eyes were still a thick, deep black. The space shook as the spirit lashed out in pain, and whips of roots and vines were thrown at Ryan from all directions.


    He protected his face against them, and even as the pitcher plants emptied themselves and a puddle was formed below Ryan''s feet, he held out against the onslaught until the acid fully tore apart the plants that were whipping Ryan instead. The moment he could move, he jumped out of the way, but his shoes were completely ruined. Rather, all of his clothes were. He was in complete tatters. At the very least, he wasn''t particularly injured. Just some surface-level acid burns from the pitcher plants.


    Ryan jumped away from the acid, standing closer to Maribelle than he had before. She was gripping her head, trying to hold out against the pain she was feeling right now. Ryan saw the flower spirit who was trying her best to fight back. He rushed up to her, as she sat on the throne that was her flower, and pulled her down, pulling her into a hug.


    He knew how painful and scary the corruption was, and especially this kind that affected the mind in a much different way to regular corruption, must be extremely scary to deal with. At this point, Ryan really didn''t know if there was anything that he could do to help Maribelle anymore. It felt like, at this point, she had to do the rest of it herself.


    The small spirit that was the size of a small child pressed herself against Ryan''s chest, trying to deal with the pain of forcing out the corruption.


    "It''s alright, don''t worry," Ryan said, smiling lightly, "You can do this."


    Maribelle shook her head, as if saying that she couldn''t. Ryan could see the roots of her hair slowly grow black again. And this time, while she was directly pressed up against Ryan.


    "No, really, it''s alright," he said, trying to reassure her without an ounce of fear in his voice. As he said so, Gaia stepped out of her domain. Ryan weakened her seal as well to allow Gaia to stand by his side. The golem wrapped her arms around Ryan, embracing both him and Maribelle in her stone arms. The water flowing out from the pipes above was dripping down Gaia''s body and further onto Maribelle. And every single drop that passed by Gaia''s body seemed to clear out more and more of the corruption on Maribelle.


    It didn''t take long until the pained grip of the spirit as she held onto Ryan''s clothes relaxed, and Maribelle simply let herself sink into the hugs. For a while longer, they stood there like that, until Ryan noticed that the space around them changed again. The mana in the air wasn''t as potent anymore. The greenhouse was no longer fused with Maribelle''s domain, and the spatial distortions completely disappeared.


    The plants that had been artificially grown by Maribelle returned to their former state, though frankly, many of them were cut apart now as a side-effect of Maximus slashing them apart as him and Ryan ran through the building. A lot of damage had been done, but it seemed as though Maribelle didn''t care right now. She just looked up at Ryan with a smile on her face. Him and Gaia pulled back to let Maribelle go, and the flower spirit quickly gave Ryan a hug, and then turned around to look at Gaia.


    With a sort of glee that Ryan was honestly quite rare to see, Maribelle flew at Gaia and held onto her. It didn''t seem like she wanted to let go either, as if there was a lot they had to catch up on. Once Ryan realized that things were over, he dropped down onto the ground. This was exhausting. Now he just had to get home. With a loud groan, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. How was he going to explain what happened to him to his mom? Maybe he could avoid her, but if she somehow happened to see him, she would freak out immediately. Ryan was basically half-naked, since the acid ate through his clothes so easily. And the burns, even if Ryan knew they weren''t anything serious, still looked pretty rough.


    But for now, he just had to take a breather.


    "You okay, bud? Did you get any acid on you?" Ryan asked, looking at Tiar''s patterns on his arm.


    "(¤Å£þ 3£þ)??"


    "All good, huh? Alright, I''m glad," he smiled lightly, sighing a breath of relief. As he sat there, Maximus approached him. He was back at his regular scale, and was holding the remains of Ryan''s phone right now. It was completely blown to pieces thanks to Richie. But he should still take it with him, maybe he could at least salvage his old pictures. And then, Ryan realized, "Oh fuck, the Roxies are still out there..."


    With a loud groan, Ryan pressed his hands into his neck before getting up. They were too dangerous to deal with, so maybe Ryan should just wait them out. Or better even, call his uncle, Yamada, or Anders, and have one of them take care of them. They would probably want to come over here to take a look at everything later anyway.


    "Maybe that fucking psycho has a phone on him," Ryan pushed himself off the ground and headed over to the entrance where the gunman was hopefully still tied up. But when he got there, the vines that he tied around him were gone, and the door was slightly ajar. It looked like the Roxies left with him as well. At least that meant Ryan could leave without being scared he was about to be impaled all of a sudden. And so, Ryan quickly returned to where the spirits were waiting.


    "Sorry about this, Maribelle, but we have to go right now. We''ll be back later with some people that can check on you properly," Ryan explained, and the flower spirit hesitantly let go of Gaia''s arm. Both of them seemed rather dejected, but since Gaia couldn''t be all that far away from Ryan, there was really no other choice.


    Maribelle waved them goodbye as Ryan walked out of the greenhouse, trying to carefully head back to the botanical gardens'' exit. If he was spotted in here like this, then he would probably get in trouble.


    Though, an uncomfortable feeling settled in the base of Ryan''s beck as he turned around the corner. The security guards, which were somehow all gone earlier, were now gathered at the front of the botanical gardens, and of course, quickly spotted Ryan and the massive golem next to him.

 101 - Promise

    Ryan leaned back against the wall behind him with his eyes closed. He was sitting on one of the most uncomfortable plastic chairs he had ever had the displeasure to encounter, and his butt was already sore. He really wasn''t allowed to move at all, and even just getting up for a moment to readjust the way he was sitting was something very clearly frowned upon. It was pretty annoying, but it wasn''t as though Ryan didn''t understand. From the perspective of these policemen, Ryan vandalized the botanical gardens on Regir''s day, of all days. Not that doing so was much better on any other day, but cutting up the plants that signified the great spirit of nature was a pretty heinous crime.


    Of course, though he wanted to explain that he didn''t cut up the plants and flowers for some kind of vicious reason, but that Maximus had to do so to properly help defend Ryan, there was no way that he could do that. If he did, then he would have to explain exactly what he had to defend himself against, and that certainly wasn''t something he was just going to do. It sounded like Runar had some connections within the police force, but Ryan doubted that those matters had anything to do with the street officers that came to arrest Ryan after he was found in the botanical gardens after closing, leaving behind a trail of destruction.


    Particularly the destroyed pipes and the flooded planters were more than enough reason to be arrested. As he sat there on these chairs at the edge of the police station, Ryan looked up at the grey-beige ceilings. The smell of cigarettes and instant coffee clung to his nose. But sooner or later, Ryan glanced over to the door on the other side of the room, just when it was pulled open. Runar was the one that stepped inside. Ryan had called Anders to ask him to come pick him up, but it seemed like the dwarf had told Runar after all, no matter how much Ryan had asked him not to. Which, of course, he did expect in the end. At the end of the day, both Anders and Yamada were Runar''s aides; not Ryan''s friends.


    That being the case, though, there was someone else that arrived together with Ryan''s uncle. His mother was there as well. The moment Ryan saw her, he could feel his heart drop into his stomach. Her face was a mixture of relief, concern, and some very potent disappointment. Not that Ryan could blame her. He would be disappointed of himself as well if he were in Mary''s shoes.


    Mary immediately came rushing over to him, but was stopped by a policewoman. Runar talked to her for a few moments, and she quickly let Mary over to her son after all. But mostly, Ryan was focused on his uncle. If it weren''t for him, then he would probably end up having to stay in a cell for the night, but Runar was apparently able to pull some strings and make it so that he could just be picked up. Even if he was 19 years old, it seemed that Ryan was still basically a kid to these policemen.


    "Ryan..." Mary muttered, looking down at her son. She squatted down in front of him, quickly wrapping his hand in both of her own, "What happened? I thought you said you weren''t doing stuff like this anymore..."


    "... It''s complicated. I''m sorry," he replied, looking away. He couldn''t dare look his mother in the eyes right now. He wasn''t ashamed of what he did, obviously. Ryan did what had to be done to help save Maribelle, but his mother obviously didn''t know about that. From her point of view, her son who had bragged so much about having changed and basically starting a new life after awakening did the same thing he always did. All she saw was the same kid that broke into the arcade with his friends in 8th grade, or the kid that trashed the car of the shitty manager that was harassing his friends at their job. From her point of view, this was just proof that Ryan hadn''t changed at all.


    "It''s fine, don''t worry..." with a slight smile, the corners of her mouth barely curling up, Ryan''s mother cupped his cheek with her hand, "I''m just glad you''re okay. Did you get hurt anywhere? Your clothes are in complete tatters... did you get in a fight with someone?"


    Ryan shook his head, still practically refusing to actually look at his mother. It wasn''t like he could explain the reality of the situation right now. In the end, Ryan just shook his head.


    "It''s complicated..."


    Mary looked at Ryan nervously, especially when she got a better look at the state he was in. She was about to ask him something else, but by then, Runar came up from behind her.


    "We can go. Come on," he said, turning around immediately. For some reason, he was acting even more annoyed than Mary was, and that was in turn pissing Ryan off quite a bit. Closing his eyes for a moment, Ryan tried to take a few deep breaths. He couldn''t freak out at Runar right now. Rather, after what Ryan said to him earlier before leaving for the botanical gardens, he really didn''t want to say anything at all.


    Ryan got up and walked up to a nearby police officer that took the metal bracelet off his arm. This wasn''t some kind of handcuff, but rather a tool to track when someone was using magic or skills. If such an ability was detected, it would let out a high-pitched signal. There were some similar things to block the use of magic to some degree, but those were a lot more expensive and weren''t used for low-level awakened like Ryan.


    Once the bracelet was removed, Ryan followed his uncle and mother out of the building. The car was parked in front of the station. Instead of Yamada, it seemed like Ryan''s mother was driving, though it was still that same black car that Yamada usually drove.


    Ryan got into the backseat and his mother and uncle got into the front. In almost complete silence, the three headed out from the parking lot. They arrived pretty quickly, and not a single word had been said the whole ride. It was more than just uncomfortable. The air was so thick you could cut it with a knife.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Ryan got out of the car and approached the building''s front door that led right up to the flat, but while Mary was parking, Runar pulled him into the caf¨¦. Silently, he approached the counter and grabbed the small metal pyramid tucked away behind it, placing it onto the counter between himself and his nephew, breaking the tense silence the moment it was active.


    "Are you serious?" Runar asked, staring at his nephew with an annoyed frown, "I get that you were upset earlier, but trashing the botanical gardens? Have you lost your mind?2


    Ryan narrowed his eyes as he stared back at his uncle, "Excuse me? You don''t even know-"


    "I don''t even know what? What you''re going through? Gods, I should have known better, but you''re really still just the kid that Mary warned me about," Runar sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I know you would get into trouble, and beat up people. I know about all your arrests and your criminal records. But you just seemed like such a good kid that I thought it was all a bit exaggerated, but how could you just go and trash the botanical gardens? Didn''t you go there to meet with that spirit, Maribelle? How could you do that to her?"


    "... You done?" Ryan asked, pushing his hand into his bag, rummaging around inside of it to look for something. As he did that, Runar let out a deep, long sigh.


    "Am I done? No, Ryan, I''m not done. You seriously need to-"


    Interrupting his uncle, Ryan slammed his phone, or at least its remains, onto the table. Confused, Runar looked back at his nephew, about to ask what was going on. But Ryan spoke up before Runar could say anything.


    "Richie, a friend from university, was affected by some kind of weird corruption and is working for the shadows. He was there and infected Maribelle with that same corruption. That friend of mine is a technomancer, and he blew up my phone, attacked me with robots, and then locked me inside the greenhouse. Maribelle controlled the plants in the greenhouse to try and kill me, but I was able to cure her by pouring the corruption cure into the sprinkler system. But while navigating the space, Maximus did have to cut through some plants, sorry. Oh, and that guy that shot someone''s brains into my face a couple weeks ago? Yeah, he was there as well and shot into Gaia''s back a few times, so if we''re done here, I''m gonna go upstairs and fix her. Is that alright?" Ryan looked at his uncle, staring him intensely into his eyes. He didn''t feel that same sense of shame that he did with his mother, so he didn''t hesitate for even a moment. Rather, he was just incredibly mad at his uncle right now. Or maybe some sadness was mixed in with that as well, learning what Runar really thought about him in situations like this. But right now, Runar was completely stunned.


    "I..."


    "Seriously, the fact you would even think that I would vandalize a place like that just because we had a small fight kinda makes me even more mad than I was earlier. You know that I haven''t been doing that shit since I awakened, and you also know that whenever I get hurt recently, it''s because of all of this shit," Ryan waved his hands around, pointing vaguely at everything, "So what makes you think that this time would be different?"


    Runar stayed quiet, looking at his nephew while clearly unsure what to say in response. His demeanour had changed completely now. But at this point, Ryan really didn''t care anymore. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and turned around toward the back of the caf¨¦, "I''ll order a new phone. Hopefully it''s going to get here tomorrow, but if it doesn''t, you know why you can''t reach me."


    Ryan walked through to the back of the caf¨¦ and made his way upstairs. At this point, he was really just exhausted and wanted to change. He was given some really baggy clothes at the police station since most of his actual clothes were torn, and they really weren''t the most comfortable and smelled like kilos worth of dust. He should probably take a shower as well and then treat himself with some healing salve.


    His mother also finally parked the car and had made her way inside. She looked at Ryan as he walked by the living room, and tried to wave him inside. He would prefer to get right under the shower, but he figured he should give his mother some time right now.


    "Are you sure you''re okay?" Mary asked, "Seriously, totally sure?"


    Ryan slowly nodded his head, "I promise, I''m okay. I''m just tired."


    "Do you want to tell me what happened?"


    Ryan hesitated. He did want to tell her about it all, but he still didn''t know how to really explain things to her. He would have to talk about his father as well, and he couldn''t bring himself to do that right now. So instead, he just had to lie to her, and he really didn''t want to do that.


    "I just ran into some pretty rough guys," he explained, looking at his mom nervously. She didn''t seem quite satisfied with that response, though.


    "Then what was that about you vandalizing the gardens?"


    "It''s... I didn''t... It wasn''t like that, mom, okay? I promise," Ryan explained, but Mary frowned lightly.


    "Then why didn''t you tell that to the police? I don''t know what your uncle said to them to make them calm down, but they seemed rather upset when we were at the station."


    "Because if I had told them, it would have caused trouble for Maribelle," Ryan explained, "The flower spirit that I went to visit earlier."


    "Can you tell me?"


    Ryan closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, "No. Not right now. I''m really sorry, it''s just really complicated, and I... I just can''t tell you right now."


    Smiling lightly, Mary rubbed her son''s shoulder, "Okay. Then tell me when you can. As long as you can promise me that you''re not in any trouble."


    Again, just like it had been during this whole conversation, Ryan could feel his stomach drop. He didn''t want to lie to his mother, but he probably had to right now. It wasn''t like he could talk about people that wanted to kill him. Though, the fact that his mother was so supportive about every little thing did make him feel even worse about lying to her. Even so, with a light smile on his face, Ryan replied, "I''m not in a trouble. I promise," he said, slowly turning around, "I''m going to grab some clothes from my room real quick and then take a shower and stuff. I could use a shower right now."


    He quickly turned around and left the living room, trying to really avoid looking at his mother''s reaction. Ryan just wanted to get away and do his own thing for a little while. Not talk to anyone, and just listen to music while fixing up Gaia''s back. Of course, her body being made of solid rock, the bullets didn''t fully pierce her or anything, but they did seem to have cracked a few sections of the her back. It was better to fix those things up as fast as he could as far as Ryan was concerned.

 102 - Milas Day

    Stuffing his mouth with piping-hot street food, Ryan turned around and stepped up to Silvia, who had been waiting right behind him with a vegan version of the same food that he had just bought. They were sitting together on the bench at the rooftop garden, enjoying the smell of the street vendors'' food permeating the air today. Being the day of Mila, the great spirit of farming, today was a celebration of farming and food, meaning that the whole city practically transformed into a single massive farmer''s- and food market.


    "So... what exactly happened yesterday? You said you fell down the stairs? You still haven''t told me about it, and you didn''t respond to my texts either," Silvia pointed out, a little bit of dejection in her voice, and Ryan awkwardly leaned back against the railing behind him. He looked at the planter with the copper wildflowers that Gaia was currently caring for, planting new seeds that she had gathered from the recently-harvested flowers. There was really quite a lot that he should tell Silvia right now.


    "Okay... so, when I called you yesterday, I fell down the stairs in front of Kindly''s room. I was pretty excited, because, well..." Ryan pointed at the wildflowers, "Those little things can cure corruption. And they did, and now Kindly is pretty healthy. Well, healthier than he was yesterday morning, at least."


    Silvia''s eyes widened, "Wait, seriously? Kindly, that was the mimic, right?" she replied, before really catching up to what her friend just said, "Hold on, you fell down the stairs? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"


    "A little. But Kula was in the area, so he came by and healed me. And yeah, Kindly is the mimic," Ryan explained, "The reason that I wanted you to come here is actually pretty simple. I want you to work with us to improve the planters for the wildflowers to increase their growth speed. I figured maybe we could go downstairs and you could use your insight skill on the Dryads or something."


    With a bit of relief that her friend was alright, Silvia took a bite of her food. She chewed for a few moments, already brainstorming a bit, before quickly nodding, "I should be able to come up with something. But healing corruption, that''s a pretty big deal, isn''t it? Why aren''t you... well, excited about it? Or as excited as you should be, at least?"


    Ryan closed his eyes. He knew that he would have to tell Silvia and Modak about this sooner or later, but it felt a bit rough to do. But either way, it couldn''t be avoided. Since Modak was busy getting his project in order for this coming Thursday, Ryan just figured he should tell Silvia for now instead of putting it off. And so, Ryan told the whole story of what happened yesterday. Of course, he did leave out the fights with Runar, because that felt a little unnecessary to add into the mix. In the end, Silvia sat there, with the food in her hand, growing colder by the second. Ryan felt almost bad that he didn''t wait until they were both done eating.


    "So Richie is just evil now? Just like that?" Silvia asked, baffled, "And you can''t cure him with the flowers?"


    Hesitant to reply too certain into any particular direction, Ryan just ended up shrugging, "I don''t know. I think so, maybe? But his corruption is really different to the normal kind. It''s more stable, I guess. I cured Maribelle right away after she was infected, but with Richie, it has to have been a while now, so I just don''t know if it would work out the same way. That doesn''t mean I won''t try, though, obviously."


    Silvia placed down her food onto the spot next to her on the bench and placed her hands in front of her face while taking a deep breath, trying to concentrate and think properly, "Do you think I can do anything to help? Maybe... make the cure stronger somehow?"


    Ryan was about to shake his head when he stopped himself. Thinking about it, there might be a way for Silvia to do exactly that, "What do you think would happen if you turned the wildflowers into paint?"


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Sitting in the livingroom, Ryan looked down at his new phone. He had just finished setting it all up and was trying to log into all of his accounts again. Luckily, all his contacts were synced with his account, so he didn''t have to worry about not being able to reach anyone. As he was sitting there, trying to figure out who to text first to let them know he had his phone back, the flat''s front door opened up and someone seemingly stepped inside. To his surprise, a middle-aged, red-skinned, four-armed man walked past the living room door and toward the kitchen.


    "Chantora?" Ryan let out, surprised. Peeking his head into the room, Chantora stopped walking and waved toward Ryan with a smile.


    "Ah, yer not out tonight? I thought Mila''s day is pretty big for uni kids these days," the chef laughed slightly, and Ryan shrugged.


    "I''m going out in a bit, yeah. But it''s still a bit early right now so I''m still taking care of some stuff," Ryan responded quickly, and Chantora let out a long, jealous sigh.


    "6? Too early?" he said almost jealous of Ryan''s youth, crossing his four arms in front of his chest, "That mean you''ll be joining us for dinner?"


    "Are you here to cook?"


    "Aye, together with yer uncle. I heard your mum was here, so Runar suggested we have an old folk''s Mila day celebration!"


    Ryan grinned lightly. He was still mad at Runar, but that didn''t mean he didn''t love his uncle at the end of the day. And the vibe of how Chantora was talking right now was pretty interesting to him, "Hmm, that so?"


    The chef awkwardly averted his gaze, looking away. Ryan knew better than to tease Chantora about this, but it was clear there was something going on between him and Runar. That being the case, he did wonder something else, "What about Liam?"


    "Hm? The lad''ll be sleeping, won''t he?" Chantora replied as if it were obvious, but Ryan just looked back with an awkward expression.


    "He''s a vampire, he sleeps like 3 hours a night," Ryan pointed out, "He usually goes to bed around 2-3 in the morning."


    "Ah... well, I won''t mind his company for a while either. It will be an old and young folk night, then!"Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Ryan scoffed, nodding, "Or I could take him with me. I''m headed over to my friend''s place, his brothers are Liam''s friends so they could hang out a bit. They''re orcs, and kids, so they probably won''t sleep much either."


    Of course, that was really just an excuse. Ryan wasn''t really headed to Modak''s place. Instead, he was going to spend the night down in the basement again, and having Liam spend the evening with them didn''t sound like a bad idea. Plus, having Liam of all people sit there while Chantora, Runar and Mary were eating a meal cooked by an awakened chef, felt a little mean from Ryan''s perspective. He quickly pushed himself off the couch, "So, what are you making?"


    Chantora grinned lightly, cupping his chin with one of his hands, "Just a simple crispy lesser drake."


    Ryan raised his brows, "Lesser drake? Oh man, that sounds good..." already feeling his stomach growl, he let out a slight sigh. He would have plenty to eat downstairs later, and all the food on the menu was amazing there as well, but just the idea of eating lesser drake prepared by an awakened chef seemed amazing. With a laugh, Chantora patted Ryan''s back.


    "I''ll make sure to put some aside for you."


    "Awesome, thank you," Ryan smiled broadly, stepping out of the living room with Chantora right behind him. Standing in the hallway, leaning against one of the walls, was Runar. Of course he was here, Ryan knew that. Runar was the one that opened the door for Chantora in the first place. But they''ve been avoiding each other all day, and it didn''t seem as though right now was the right moment to actually talk about it, so both of them just decided to look away from each other. Runar focused on Chantora, while Ryan headed toward his bedroom. He expected his mother in here, taking a break, but instead she did something that instinctively made Ryan''s stomach drop.


    Mary was cleaning Ryan''s room. And it wasn''t even like his room was particularly dirty. Of course, it wasn''t perfectly spotless, but it was totally fine.


    "Mom, what are you doing?" he asked with a slight groan, watching as his mother was rearranging his shelves and cupboards.


    "Just organizing things a little better! It''s such a mess in here," Mary pointed out, and Ryan looked at her with a blank expression, "... Mhm. I guess, whatever. Just please leave the models as they are, they''re all grouped together as per their era, so-"


    "But they look so messy like that, wouldn''t it be better if-"


    "Mom, please, just don''t..." Ryan sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He really didn''t feel like dealing with this right now. But at least his mom was listening to some degree now.


    "Yes, yes, fine, if it''s so important to you that they stay so messy, then..."


    Ryan sighed lightly. While his mom was turned around, he quickly took a picture of his wall with model figurines so that he could re-sort them again easily later should his mom mess with where they were standing right now.


    Either way, for now, Ryan quickly grabbed his backpack. He had a few things in here that he needed to bring downstairs with him. Luckily, his mom hadn''t looked into his backpack at least. Ryan pushed his feet into his sneakers and walked back out into the hallway, "Yo, Liam!"


    The young vampire quickly pulled open his door and peeked out his head from the room''s dark interior, "Thou hast called for me?"


    "Wanna come with?" Ryan asked, glancing around to make sure nobody would see what he was about to do, which was to point downward at the ground. It seemed like Liam quickly understood what he was trying to ask, though, and hurriedly nodded his head.


    "Yes! Hold on!"


    "No need to rush. Just put on some shoes and we can head out," with a slight yawn, Ryan looked back down at his phone. It was a different, newer model that he wasn''t quite used to. But this one did have mana-sensitive cameras, so mana distortions wouldn''t disrupt pictures anymore. Though, that kind of saved his ass a few times so far, so maybe that wasn''t the best choice. Either way, it was better than not having a phone at all.


    As Ryan stood there, waiting for Liam to get ready, Runar walked into the hallway again. Chantora was in the kitchen, and Mary was in Ryan''s room. The uncle and nephew pair stared at each other for a few moments, until Runar pulled out a small metal card with some patterns drawn onto the front.


    "Just put this into the case of your new phone. It''s the signal transmitter," he explained, and Ryan slowly nodded, quickly looking away from his uncle. For the most part, he just wanted to avoid making eye contact right now.


    "Thanks," he said, grabbing the small metal plate. He quickly pulled back his phone case and placed the plate inside. This would now allow him to head downstairs and actually use his phone from there by transmitting the phone''s signal from downstairs to a point at the rooftop and vice versa.


    A few moments later, Liam came out of his bedroom, wearing his shoes while a backpack was strapped to his back. He already immediately rushed toward the door, and Ryan quickly followed, "See you guys later. Have a fun night," he said loud enough for everyone in the flat to hear, but he didn''t wait long enough for an answer. Instead, him and Liam quickly made their way into the caf¨¦ and then downstairs into the hidden underground village. This time around, the celebration was already well underway. After yesterday, they had gotten into a proper ''Spirit Week'' mood and decided to cook and eat together all day, like a massive feast. Ryan came down here earlier today as well to check on them and everything seemed fine so he decided to just come back around now when the ''main'' part of the celebration was supposed to happen.


    Ryan and Liam walked into the cave village''s main plaza, and could already see dozens of tables set up where people were sitting around and eating, at least those that ate solid biological food. The dryads lived off light, fertilizer, and water, so they didn''t really ''eat'', and the geodes also didn''t need to eat, sleep, or even breathe. Though, the majority of people still did.


    "There''s some kids your age over there, want to go say hi?" Ryan asked, looking down at Liam. He was a bit hesitant, but Ryan was sure that they were going to get along fine. He had already told the other kids living down here about Liam, and they seemed pretty excited to meet him.


    "Do I have to?"


    "No, not at all," ruffling his hand through Liam''s hair, Ryan smiled down at the young boy, "You can stick to me if you want, but I''ve got some slightly troublesome stuff to take care of. So if possible, you''d still need to wait for me a bit, okay?"


    Grumbling slightly, Liam nodded, "I shall... greet my people, then!"


    "You do that, my liege," Ryan nodded, giving the boy a slight salute. Liam had met some of these people before, he just hadn''t spent any time with them. And considering that there were some kids that were stuck down here, Ryan would really like it if they could all get along a bit better.


    That being the case, there really was something he had to take care of, and his first stop was on the other side of the cave. He quickly approached the stairway. There were actually still some splatters of his blood that weren''t properly cleaned off. Ryan should get to that later.


    Either way, his destination was at the top of the steps. He quickly pushed open the door, seeing a wardrobe in the centre of the room, as always. But the wardrobe was different to before. It was much, much... prettier. Like it had been repaired or refurbished somehow. Rather, this seemed like what the wardrobe was supposed to look like back when it was first made.


    "Kindly, you in there? How are you feeling?" Ryan asked, stepping up to the wardrobe. He couldn''t feel even a bit of corruption, so he felt fairly confident. But once Ryan was close enough, the doors of the wardrobe opened up and half a dozen large tentacles shot out, pulling Ryan toward the dark grey mass that was Kindly the mimic, covered in bandages and smelling of rubbing alcohol.

 103 - Bricks

    Ryan pushed himself off the dark grey mass that was embracing him completely right now. Kindly''s tentacles were slung all around his body, getting tighter as if he wasn''t planning on letting go anytime soon. And maybe he really wasn''t planning on letting go, either. It must have been quite a while since Kindly was able to actually touch anything or anyone with even an ounce of mana within them, so now the mimic probably had a lot to catch up on in that regard. Even so, Ryan wasn''t the kind that liked being held like this.


    "All good, bud, you can let go of me, now!" he laughed awkwardly, trying to push himself off the mimic. Realizing that he wanted to be let go, Kindly did ask asked and carefully retracted his tentacles. As he pulled back a bit, Ryan was able to get a proper look at the mimic like this. He was clearly doing a lot better than he was just yesterday. His mimic shell, the wardrobe, had been repaired pretty well, and his wounds were treated thoroughly. Though, the wardrobe was probably fixed by Kindly himself.


    Being an awakened mimic, it seemed as though he had gained the ability to better modify his body and shell, basically allowing him to change the appearance of his shell to whatever it needed to be. A usual mimic really just used something like this as their home in the way that they found it, but Kindly was different in that case. Glancing Kindly up and down, Ryan tried to make sure that the mimic was still cured of the corruption. The idea that the corruption could somehow come back was a little bit worrying, but it didn''t seem to be the case.


    Kindly pulled his tentacles back into the wardrobe, closing the cracks in the wood. Now, the only thing that Ryan was able to see were Kindly''s eyes peeking out from the cracks of the wardrobe''s doors, glancing the man in front of them up and down excitedly.


    "Did Rose do a good job treating you?" Ryan asked. He sat down on the ground, leaning backward onto his hands. Kindly replied with a soft, happy chirping.


    "Do you think you want to come downstairs with me?" he suggested. Now that Kindly wasn''t corrupted anymore, he should be allowed to be with the others downstairs. Of course, at the end of the end of the day, mimics were considered animals, so maybe bringing him downstairs so easily was a little reckless, but Kindly was an awakened mimic. Ryan didn''t know what sort of abilities he had or what his innate stats were, but he seemed to be incredibly intelligent and responsive compared to what he would expect from an animal. Maybe part of it was Ryan''s sociability stat doing its job, allowing him to talk to Kindly and be actually understood, though whichever it was, Ryan felt bad for the mimic.


    Kindly''s wardrobe slowly pushed itself off the ground, revealing those spider-like legs that it turned some of its tentacles into. Parts of the wardrobe''s front opened up, revealing large, round eyes. Ryan stood up off the ground and walked toward the door. It was large enough for Kindly to get through, but the steps were still a bit of an issue. Trying to properly guide him downstairs, Ryan placed his hand onto the front of the wardrobe, pushing back against it whenever Kindly was about to make a misstep.


    "Take it slow, there''s no need to rush. We''ve got all the time in the world," he explained, carefully guiding Kindly and making sure that he wasn''t mis-stepping. If Kindly fell here, he would completely destroy his wardrobe, and that definitely wasn''t good for him. Apparently, the stress of not having a ''shell'' starkly reduced a mimic''s lifespan, and Ryan wasn''t sure if there was anything else here that he could use as one. Not to mention, Kindly was already pretty hurt, so falling down here wouldn''t be great for him.


    But luckily, the two made it down the stairs soon enough. The mimic seemed a bit nervous walking around here, since he wasn''t allowed to ever leave the room at the top of the stairs. Walking around here and feeling something else beside old wooden floorboards below him was certainly exciting. Ryan guided kindly to where the others were celebrating. The smell of food was already filling the well-trodden village paths.


    Ryan turned around the corner of a building, quickly bumping into someone he was looking for earlier. Rose looked up at Ryan, startled. It seemed like she was looking for him as well, "Oh! That''s where you are, I heard you went up to see Kindly! He-" she started, though she stopped herself when she saw what was standing behind Ryan right now.


    The fancy, clean, and new-looking wardrobe definitely wasn''t here before, "Wait, is that..? Did you bring Kindly down here?!"


    Ryan turned around to look at the mimic with a smile, though he was surprised to see that he had retreated into the shell completely, "Yeah, I did. He''s not corrupted anymore, so I figured he should get to join everyone."


    Nervously, Rose looked around, "Ryan, I adore Kindly as well, but he''s still a mimic, and a pretty large one as well... I''m not sure how safe it is to have him here."


    With a scoff, Ryan shook his head, "He''s fine, don''t worry. He''s more shy than anything."


    "Yes, I know that, but the others don''t. Plus, there''s a lot of extremely curious kids here. Who knows what they might do if they see a walking wardrobe? I don''t want to stress Kindly out too much..."


    After a bit of contemplation, Ryan patted the side of the wardrobe, "We can find a spot a bit of a distance away. I just don''t want Kindly to be stuck all alone up there. I figured that, now that he''s cured, we could find him a new home. Somewhere that''s still a bit away from others, but where he can get used to being around people again slowly but surely."


    Rose thought about it for a moment, "Well, most places here are already being lived in right now, and we can''t just leave him outside... What about with the Forge Elemental?"


    "A forge elemental that melts metal with a single bite and a mimic with a wooden shell?"


    "... Good point," Rose hummed slightly, thinking about what to do, "Then we could have him live in Runar''s office, maybe? Not many people go in there beside you and Runar, it''s pretty central so Kindly could hear people and get used to being around them, and the doors and steps are large enough for him to get in and out easily."


    Ryan thought about that for a moment. It didn''t seem like the worst place. Plus, most of the time, mimics were completely stationary and in their ''hidden'' form anyway, so Runar shouldn''t be bothered by him either.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "But what about Penny? I know that she''s not supposed to be in there permanently anyway, but right now her nest is still in the office."


    "... Right, that could be an issue... but one that we could solve if we could get Penny to move somewhere else. We''ve been trying to find her a spot she might like, but she doesn''t really listen to anyone beside you."


    "That''s fine, I can help her find a spot for her nest," Ryan replied. His hand was still on the side of the wardrobe. He carefully nudged Kindly forward, "But for now, let''s try and see how Kindly will do around everyone. As long as we''re here, I''m sure he''ll be okay. Plus, I''d love to let him eat something tasty as well. Wait, what do mimics eat?"


    While he couldn''t see her face perfectly through the dark visor of her hazmat suit''s helmet, Ryan could swear that Rose was smiling.


    "Fine. Let''s go."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Okay, let''s do this, and then this... and then..." Modak grumbled quietly, chewing on the end of his pencil as he entered different values into the software on his computer, trying to adjust the audio output of the speakers. Once he was done, he quickly pushed himself over to the adjacent desk with his chair, turning a knob at the speaker''s side until it reached the exact level he needed. He then grabbed a small band of crystal tape laying next to him and pulled it into place. To his left was the inscription machine, and to his right was the data reader and speaker.


    One last time, Modak made sure that everything was properly in place, and then looked around to the cyclops, "Is everything in place on your side?"


    Marge quickly nodded. She had different cameras set up, each with different levels of mana-sensitivity and filters to ensure that they could capture everything that they needed. Plus, there were a number of other sensors set up to track the experiment further. All of the sensors and cameras were pointed at the pile of toy plastic bricks in the centre of the room. They were thrown together onto the pile without much thought and without being clicked together.


    "We''re ready to go on my side," an excited smile formed on Marge''s face as she stepped back, just waiting for Modak to start. And with that, he quickly did just that.


    "Perfect," he replied, carefully looking back over at the screen. Taking a deep breath, Modak clicked on one of the tracks that he prepared. The crystal tape started turning along with the playback speed of the song, and the soundwaves were quickly placed onto the tape through carefully pulsated mana signatures. Then, on the other side, just ten centimetres along, the reader lifted the mana off the tape and translated it into sound. The mana that had been placed onto the tape earlier was infused into the sound as the speaker finally let out the sound. It was a simple rhythmic tune that was set to a loop. As the sound hit the toy bricks, they carefully started to tremble. A few of the bricks higher up on the pile were pushed to slide down the side.


    So, Modak carefully got started with the rest. He adjusted one of the dials on the control board next to him. It was like what a music producer would have, allowing him to adjust tons of different values easily. For now, he adjusted the mana levels of the track, which was set to increase the amount of mana that was placed onto the tapes. When the toy bricks began to shake more vigorously, Modak increased the speaker''s output volume. Like this, instead of just shaking, they were being lightly thrown around, almost floating for a few moments, like gravity became weaker for them.


    "Changing amplitude," Modak said to warn Marge. She took a slight step back, watching as the plastic bricks weren''t just thrown around, but were carefully lifted off the ground, weightlessly moving along. Some of the bricks were still shaking a bit, but Modak was able to fix that by carefully adjusting some of the other values. By changing the pitch and playback speed of this track in particular, he was able to just have the bricks stay stationary in their position, like someone paused time for them as someone threw the pile on the ground.


    "Perfect. Playing 2Mu7," with a grin on his face, Modak carefully started up another track to play simultaneously with the first one, carefully ramping up the volume. It was only minuscule addition to the initial track. As he did, each of the bricks started rotating around their own axis until they were oriented in the exact same way, lining themselves up in a grid. Each brick was an equal distance away from its closest neighbour. Modak muted that track again, and then instead started up another one, "Switching out 2Mu7 with Ik91."


    "We really need some better naming conventions for the tracks, huh?" Marge pointed out, and Modak chuckled with a nod.


    "Maybe, but we''re still just testing, so it''s fine," he replied, watching as the bricks, that were now all lined up in a grid, sorted themselves by colour. With the next track, they sorted themselves by size, all whilst keeping up that grid setup. They moved around each other skilfully, almost algorithmically.


    A few moments later, though, Modak pulled up the next set of tracks to play along with them, "Beginning construction sequence, track 8Zg1," Modak said, almost giddy as he ramped up the track''s volume. As the track continued on, and Modak adjusted different values like pitch or playback speed, the bricks didn''t just sort themselves anymore. Instead, they were clicking together into each other, carefully constructing a small toy cube. As Modak reversed the track, the bricks took themselves apart again, returning to the grid setup.


    As Modak went through different tracks, the bricks were arranged into new shapes. It still worked even when new bricks were added to the mix or some were taken away. Before long, the final part of this test was done, and Modak carefully stopped all of the tracks. The bricks fell to the ground and Marge turned off the cameras and sensors.


    "It just... worked perfectly," Modak said with a broad grin on his face.


    "It''s simpler and cheaper than most other processes... Modak, you have no idea what you invented with this, it''s... incredible. If we can upscale this properly, then this would absolutely revolutionize construction or maybe even rescue operations!"


    "Well, it would take quite a lot of mana to make it work at that scale, but if we can properly increased the efficiency, it won''t be long until we can do some field tests," he replied, leaning back in his chair, "But I''m glad that the showcase tracks for this Thursday are working without issue. I''ll tweak them a bit more here and there, and then they should be perfect to show what we can do!"


    Marge looked at the orc for a few moments, hesitating, "Are you sure it''s a good idea to already show it so soon? Wouldn''t it be better to do a few more tests? Maybe make sure it''s fully safe?"


    "I mean... there''s nothing here that''s actually unsafe, and we tried anything that could realistically happen already. Glitches in the tracks, issues with the tape, inscriber, or reader, and even issues with the speakers. And otherwise, the spell just has no capacity to be harmful to anyone. The total max weight it can hold is about two kilos," Modak pointed out, "Plus, there''s no mana leakage, and the level of mana exerted is already less than the average awakener''s spell."


    The cyclops was still clearly hesitant. It hasn''t been long since they started working on this project, and they already made this level of progress, largely because Modak was working at a speed she could barely keep up with.


    "Let''s just be doubly sure and run a few more safety tests," Marge suggested, and Modak quickly agreed.


    "Sure, just in case," he said, glancing over at his screen. This test ''song'' was working incredibly well already, and Modak couldn''t wait until he could take this principle and apply it to the next song he was already in the middle of working out.

 104 - Gorias Day

    "You''re sure you can''t join? We could get someone to go pick you up," Ryan pointed out as he was talking to Modak on the phone. But the orc immediately responded,


    "Sorry, I can''t. I''m still too busy working out the last bits and pieces and figuring out a good ''playlist'' for tomorrow," he explained, and though Ryan found it a bit disappointing that he couldn''t get too hang out with one of his best friends today, he also understood why. Tomorrow was a lot more important to Modak, after all.


    "Fine, I getcha. But if what you''re showing off tomorrow sucks, you''re gonna get it, alright?"


    "Yeah, yeah, don''t worry. It''s going to be amazing," Modak replied with an audible grin on his face, and Ryan chuckled lightly.


    "It better be. Anyway, you get back to work, the others are waiting for me right now anyway."


    "You''re going to Lakeview, right?"


    "Mhm. Runar got us into some kind of exclusive part of the beach, so we''ll be spending the day there," he said excitedly, "I think Silvia said she was bringing her parents as well, so it''s going to be basically a joint Aglecard-Redhorn day."


    Modak let out a loud groan, "Okay, now I do slightly regret not going. I don''t want Yanna''s parents to think I''d prioritize work over her."


    Ryan scoffed immediately, "No, dude, they get it! Tomorrow is a massive opportunity for you. Plus, it''s not like this is the last Spirit Week, so I''m sure they understand that you want to take this one to do something special like... whatever it is you''re working on."


    "... What I''m working on is pretty sick, too, so... yeah," Modak replied.


    "There you go! Now stop stalling, at this point you won''t get any work done, anyway."


    "Yeah, yeah... Alright, talk to you later. Take some pictures!"


    Again, Ryan scoffed, "If you want to see your girlfriend in a swimsuit, just ask her."


    With a click of his tongue, Modak replied, "... Fine. Talk to you later, man."


    "See ya."


    The phone call disconnected, and Ryan pushed his phone into his pocket and then grabbed his backpack filled with whatever he needed today, including a few items in case of... emergency. Of course, those were kept a secret from his mom and Runar. Though, the only real reason why he kept it a secret from Runar was because he still didn''t particularly feel like talking to him right now. Either way, it was time to head downstairs. Locking the door behind him, Ryan quickly made his way over to the car, where his mother, Runar, and Liam were already waiting.


    "Sorry it took so long, I just forgot something upstairs," Ryan said apologetically, quickly pulling the door shut. His mother turned around from the driver''s seat and smiled at him.


    "No worries. Do you have everything?" she asked, and Ryan quickly nodded his head, pulling out a protein bar from his bag. This was probably half of what he was carrying with him, honestly. These were actually special-made orc protein bars. Since orcs had a higher metabolic rate than humans did, a lot of foods marketed toward them were pretty calorie-dense. Plus, they tasted pretty good as well, and were cheap to boot.


    Mary looked at her son with a raised brow, "You eat a lot of those... How much are you working out?"


    Ryan shrugged, "Not all too much, honestly," he replied, "I''m taking a little break now that I awakened my strength and stamina stats."


    "Hm..." Mary narrowed her eyes somewhat suspiciously, but she didn''t say much more about it. Obviously, she probably knew best exactly how much Ryan usually ate. She made almost all the food he ate growing up, after all. So suddenly seeing him eat almost double that was probably rather jarring. Though, he was able to luckily push most of the blame for that onto awakening, saying that he needed to consume extra energy for the spirits. Of course, the real reason was really just Tiar.


    Ever since the two of them bonded, Ryan''s body has been in a massively higher amount of food. Luckily, he was able to actually afford to eat that much now, but it was pretty jarring sometimes. He was basically always eating at this point and it was getting annoying at times. Considering that Runar said this should only last for about a week at the beginning made this a bit more worrying, but since Ryan''s body-temperature, which was raised considerably for a while after bonding to the symbiote, went back down, they figured that the vastly increased metabolic rate was just a side effect of bonding with a ruby symbiote.


    Once Mary started driving, Ryan looked down at his phone and started scrolling through social media, though his attention was soon drawn by the young boy sitting next to him here in the backseat. He was playing something on a handheld gaming console, but was clearly struggling a bit.


    "You need any help?" Ryan asked, and Liam looked over at him, startled.


    "N-No! I can manage, worry not!" he responded immediately, practically pulling the console away from Ryan to avoid letting him see. Ryan laughed slightly, focusing back on what he was looking at a moment ago. In the front of the car, his mom and Runar were talking while Runar navigated Mary around the city.


    "How did you get us to this exclusive, private beach anyway?" Mary asked curiously, and Runar slightly laughed.


    "It''s not that exclusive, really. And I just happen to know a few people that are going to be there today," he explained, and Ryan glanced up from his phone. He wasn''t sure what kind of people were going to be there today, but considering that Runar literally had no private life, he knew they were most likely going to be part of the hidden ''underworld''. Ryan had no idea why Runar decided to invite not just his mother there, but even allowed Silvia''s parents to join. He honestly just hoped that he was wrong and Runar was just hiding another secret life where he happened to have some friends.


    "How do you of all people know the high society like that?" Mary wondered, and Ryan almost chocked on his protein bar trying not to be too bothered by what she was saying. Runar didn''t just know the high society, he was basically at its peak. Or rather, he should be. He didn''t really act like it most of the time.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    "Just got lucky, I guess. Met the right people at the right times," after Runar''s explanation, Ryan couldn''t help but roll his eyes. Wouldn''t it be fine to, at the very least, tell Mary about the fact that Runar was part of the Aglecard family? As in, the Aglecard family as it appeared publicly; a family coming from old money that currently runs a number of high-profile charities all over the world.


    Ryan looked out the car window. They were passing by crowds of people playing with water, either by throwing water balloons at each other or by engaging it water gun wars. Either way, Goria''s day didn''t tend to be one where you could get home fully dry. It being the literal peak of summer, climbing up to the summer solstice, definitely made that a generally fun experience.


    Though, as he sat there, looking at the kids, he realized something. He snapped his head over to Liam, "Wait, do you have a parasol or something? Is your sunscreen waterproof?"


    Liam glanced up from his game, scrunching up his nose, "We ensured that I would be safe, do not worry for me too much on such a joyous day."


    Breathing out a sigh of relief, Ryan looked back down at his phone. The car was pretty silent by now, excluding Runar''s navigations. The city was as busy as always, but they soon made their way to Lakeview. Here, the celebrations were even more intense than anywhere else. Lakeview had the largest amount of species that either partially or mainly lived in water in all of New Riverside. Particularly the part of town submerged within the river-lake itself was apparently extremely busy on Goria''s day every year, though this time around, the group chose to stay at the beach above and enjoy the day in the sun. Especially because in the evening, there was supposed to be a rain-show that they wanted to see, and Lakeview''s beaches were the best place for that.


    Before long, they ended up at the parking lot by the private beach. It was sectioned off, and they could only get onto the parking lot with a ticket. Ryan had already sent the digital version to Silvia so that her and her family could get in as well, and they had seemingly arrived first. Mary parked the car and Ryan quickly got out. He looked around, trying to find the spot that Silvia texted him about, and he didn''t have to search for long. Dimos, Silvia and Yanna''s father, was very obvious and rather hard to miss. Not to mention the other two extremely tall minotaurs standing next to him. They seemed to have just been waiting, and quickly came over once Ryan got their attention with some exaggerated waving.


    Once they came over, Ryan quickly greeted Silvia and Yanna with a hug, and their parents with a handshake each, "Mom, Runar, these are Dimos and Athina Redhorn, Silvia and Yanna''s parents."


    "It is wonderful to meet you," Dimos said with a broad, gentle smile on his face. He quickly greeted Mary and Runar, "You two have a wonderful son."


    Runar almost flinched at that, but Mary just laughed and shook her head, "Oh no, Runar is my brother-in-law! But I do also think my son is quite wonderful," Mary said with a smile, bumping into her son''s side, "I do have to say the same about your daughters, though. I can tell they are quite the good influence on my Ryan."


    As they were talking, Liam was continuously hiding behind Ryan. Meeting Yanna the other day was one thing, but being in front of three massive minotaurs seemed to be pretty intimidating to the young boy. He ended up just smiling at Liam, carefully pulling him forward, "And this is Liam, my cousin, Runar''s... son," he explained. It still felt weird to call him that in public. It was technically the case, at least in a legal sense, but frankly, Runar didn''t act particularly fatherly, nor did he seem to have much of an interest in trying. Ryan kept trying to push him toward that role a bit more, but it just wouldn''t work. Liam deserved to have a proper family, and while Ryan could play the big brother role, and did so extremely happily, he refused to take on the role of a father, especially when Runar was the one that should do it.


    "Oh! I''m sorry, I wasn''t aware that..." Dimos stuttered out nervously, looking at his wife who let out a long sigh. She was probably already aware of Ryan''s family situation, and Ryan was pretty sure that Silvia or Yanna had spoken to Dimos about it as well, but he might have just forgotten. Either way, that wasn''t really important. Dimos and Athina quickly turned toward the young boy.


    Athina quickly spoke, "It''s nice to meet you, Liam."


    "The pleasure is all mine," Liam quickly replied, even bowing slightly in an extremely courteous, and somewhat embarrassing, manner. Dimos glanced over at Ryan, who just shrugged with a smile on his face, knowing exactly what Dimos was probably thinking.


    Either way, it was time to get down to the actual beach. Ryan opened up the trunk of the car and got out everything they had packed. Or at least, as much as he could carry. The others helped as well, of course, so before long, the group was able to haul everything over to the beach. It was fenced off and only had one entrance, and just for today, there were even bouncers standing in front of it. They were let inside without any trouble and tried to find an empty spot. Luckily, that was extremely easy.


    This part of the beach was sectioned off by cliff walls to the left and right, blocking them off from surrounding parts of the beach. It was also on the smaller side, but it wasn''t too bad as there weren''t actually that many people here. Though, the ones that were here appeared immediately high-profile. Just the air they were exuding felt... ''extremely, filthy rich''. Knowing that they were Runar''s acquaintances, that was probably not too far off from the truth either.


    The group set up their things, including a large beach umbrella, some blankets, coolers with some drinks and snacks, and whatever else they could need. Looking out at the lake, Ryan could already tell that this was going to be a fun day. The beach wasn''t fully sand, but there were parts of gravel mixed in here and there, and sections along the beach seemed to be entirely made of gravel in the first place.  Though, as he looked at the water, Ryan could feel something else. Tiar was waving around on his arm, and to Ryan, it felt like someone was actively scratching him.


    "Is this the lake you''re from?"


    " £¾©n£¼"


    "I''ll take that as a ''no''... But is there something in there? One of your friends from the tank? Are you still worried about them?"


    " (¥Î£à§¥)¥Î "


    "Not just worried, but... you''re mad at them? Or for them?" Ryan wondered.


    " ©³ (©b¦Ø©b)=? "


    "So... you''re mad about... well, something. What exactly? That they''re still stuck down there?"


    Though, the symbiote ended up not responding to that question. Instead, the small blank space on the back of Ryan''s hand stayed blank, as if even Tiar didn''t know what to say. Though, Ryan felt like he hit the nail right on the head.


    "You know it''s not that simple. There''s a reason why you were brought there, it''s to protect you all," Ryan pointed out, and Tiar swirled up on his arm. Ryan sighed lightly. It wasn''t like he didn''t understand where Tiar was coming from. While, sure, the Aglecard family was doing their best to protect the ''hidden'' folk, the way they did that seemed pretty similar to keeping them in some kind of cage. At least species like vampires were able to somewhat hide amongst people until now, but the species that were more different to others than them were forced into a position where they either had to risk losing their lives, give up their freedom, at least temporarily. And the issue was that the symbiotes didn''t even really have much of a choice. Without being bonded to someone, they didn''t really have a particularly grand cognitive ability, but they were also utterly defenceless. You could maybe call it the lesser of two evils, but it still didn''t always sit right with Ryan.


    "Don''t worry... we''ll figure out a way to get your friends out from there," he whispered as he ran his hand over his arm, trying to calm Tiar down.

 105 - Forget

    Pushing the large beach umbrella into the ground, Ryan finished setting everything up, and quickly looked over at Liam. The young vampire quickly moved under the umbrella and relaxed a bit, still playing on his gaming console.


    "Stay under here for a bit longer, okay? The sun is really, really bad right now," Ryan pointed out, and Liam glanced up at him.


    "Not to worry, I understand."


    "... You could also try to keep on your jacket and just join us at the shallow part until the clouds move in a bit more. Just cool down your feet a bit," he suggested instead, squatting in front of the boy, but Liam quickly shook his head.


    He paused his game and locked eyes with Ryan, "I shall join when the sun weakens. Until then, I do have some foes to strike down, so worry not."


    With a slight smile, Ryan ruffled Liam''s hair and then stood back up straight. As he turned around, he noticed Silvia and Yanna''s parents looking over a bit concerned, and Ryan noticed them whispering to each other. Figuring that they weren''t filled in yet, he quickly walked over to them, "He''s not great with sun, so he''ll come join at the water when it''s not glaring quite as much."


    "Oh? Is he not feeling well? We have some fruit juice in our cooler if he wants some," Athina pointed out, but Ryan immediately shook his head, completely shooting her down.


    "No, no, please don''t give him anything. He, uh..." Ryan glanced over to Runar, briefly locking eyes with him. And realizing that his uncle probably wouldn''t do it, Ryan let out a long, quiet groan. He didn''t want his friends'' parents to think they weren''t treating Liam well, and Runar said the announcement was coming soon anyway, so... "He''s a vampire."


    Though Athina let out a slight chuckle, laughing at that statement, Dimos'' eyes widened, "V-Vampire? What do you mean? Those aren''t..."


    Confused, Ryan furrowed his brows, "They very much are real. They''re supposed to be slowly integrated soon, and Liam is at the forefront of that."


    Athina''s laugh slowly died down, especially seeing Dimos'' concerned expression. The minotaur turned toward his wife, "Would you excuse us for a second?"


    "I... guess so?" Athina responded, watching as Dimos pulled Ryan a few steps away. Luckily, there weren''t many people on this private beach, especially not yet. Most people would probably show up later on during the actual big events at the lake, so there was plenty of privacy for now.


    Once they were far enough away, standing against one of the large rock walls encasing this private beach, Dimos looked down at Ryan with a deep frown, "You know about... vampires?"


    "Sorry, you know about vampires? No offense, I just thought you were... you know, a therapist."


    Dimos let out a long sigh, nodding, "And I used to work rather closely with the police, I- No, that''s not important. Does Silvia know he''s a vampire?"


    Ryan carefully replied, "Uh, yeah, she found out the same time I did."


    "Is your uncle...?"


    "No, Runar obviously isn''t a vampire. I mean, he''s pale as hell, but that''s for another reason. Liam is adopted, if that''s what you''re asking. But I don''t know what the deal is, he''s just a slightly more frail, and extremely weird, kid. He gets along with the others at school, too. He befriended Modak''s siblings all on his own, for example," Ryan explained, but Dimos seemed to grow more and more nervous.


    "And... you know what vampires are like..? What does the boy... what does he feed on? Are you letting him..." the minotaur seemed to be glancing at Ryan''s neck, as if he was looking for bite marks, but obviously there were none to see. Rolling his eyes, Ryan crossed his arms. He wanted to be a bit more respectful toward his friends'' parents, but when they were acting like this, then his patience ran thin there as well.


    "There''s a type of fake blood that was just finished being tested that is maybe even better for them than real blood. The company that invented it is supplying us with as much as we need, and they''re going to bring out some supplement drink thing that vampires can just buy at the store," Ryan said immediately, "And by the way, most vampires don''t ''feed'' like that anymore. They either make do with animal blood from a butcher or get it supplied from the charity that paired Liam and Runar with each other. And that blood also is just excess from blood drives. So it''s totally ethical."


    Looking into Dimos'' eyes that were filled with pure concern, Ryan glanced back at Liam. Seeing how silent the minotaur was, as if he was judging whether or not Ryan was telling the truth, honestly just annoyed Ryan more and more.


    "Listen, you clearly have some kind of history with vampires, and... it sounds like it has something to do with vampires that do feed on people, but... Liam is just a kid. Vampires live in clans, right? Well, he''s the last of his. And ever since then, he''s been sheltered and hidden and... he deserves to live like a normal kid. Because, really, he''s just a normal kid."


    "I just need to make sure that you are careful. Vampires can be tricky fellows. They hunt through seduction and trickery, instead of-"


    Ryan could feel his heartbeat act up as he stared up at the mountain of a minotaur standing in front of him, "You may be my best friend''s father, but you don''t you dare finish that sentence."


    Pulling back, realizing what he just said, Dimos nervously stuttered back, "I-I do apologize, that was absolutely inappropriate of me to say. I... let''s just say I used to work with the police to track down people like vampires and those similar to them. I know the dark side of these people, and it''s... well, it''s dark."


    Feeling a knot form in his throat, Ryan instinctively formed a fist. Not because he was actually about to strike at Dimos, of course. He had managed to let himself unlearn that habit. Instead, he replaced that with something a little more self-destructive. As Ryan tightly squeezed his fist, his fingernails dug into his skin. He could feel his nails pull at his cuticles as they pushed deep into his palm.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Without another word, Ryan turned around. He couldn''t get out another word right now, and just stomped back to the rest of the group, leaving Dimos standing there concerned.


    Seeing him come back, Silvia slowly stopped Ryan, "Whoa, what''s going on? What did you and my dad talk about?"


    Still not able to speak as the emotions overwhelmed him, Ryan just silently glanced over at Liam. He wasn''t sure if Silvia would understand, but it was clearly enough for her to at least get a rough idea of what this was about. Also realizing that Ryan wasn''t in the state to talk right now, Silvia instead walked past him and approached her father instead.


    "What did you say to him about Liam?" Silvia asked, and now, Dimos became just even more nervous.


    "I- you... you know that he is a... vampire, correct?"


    Confused, Silvia looked up at her father, "Yeah, so?"


    "Well... vampires are..." Dimos muttered, and Silvia''s expression dropped immediately.


    "You knew about vampires already? Really?"


    The minotaur slowly nodded his head, "Yes, I... You know I used to work closely with the police, right?"


    "Yeah, so?"


    Dimos closed his eyes for a moment, "In that context I used to assist in tracking certain criminal groups. Sooner or later, I ended up finding out that the organization I was helping them keep track of was a criminal vampire clan. They hunted people all over the city, and even kept a... farm of sorts," the minotaur explained, "I saw how horrible vampires can be, how they treat people like nothing but food."


    "Yeah, but that''s not all vampires. I get why you''d be a bit worried, but Liam? Really?"


    "You haven''t seen the things I''ve seen, honey. It''s more complicated than just-"


    "I don''t really think it is... Vampires aren''t inherently bad people, and claiming that they are is just kind of, well... shitty."


    Dimos sighed lightly, "Honey, they are the ones that attempted to..."


    Silvia looked at her father, trying to understand what he was trying to say. Only a few moments later, she mentally caught up, and raised her brows, "Okay, so... that is... new information. But... what does that change?"


    "That doesn''t make you think differently about them?" the minotaur asked surprised, but Silvia shook her head immediately.


    "Not really, I mean... I''ve been facing all this stuff a lot more recently, and it does make me feel icky to think about, but... being food for a group of vampires doesn''t really sound worse than the alternative of what I thought a ''regular'' gang would have bought a little girl for," the young elf explained, holding her own arm anxiously, "That doesn''t really change that much for me, to be honest."


    "Silvia, I just-"


    "No, dad, it''s fine, I get it. Just... don''t be shitty to people. Especially not a little kid," Silvia replied, turning around as she did so. Her face had gone pretty pale after having all that information given to her just now, and the middle-aged minotaur stood there and watched as his daughter returned to the others. Meanwhile, he was left standing there for a while, thinking.


    As she made her way back to the group, Silvia and Ryan locked eyes, stepping aside together for a moment.


    "You alright?" Ryan asked. He had managed to calm himself down a little bit by now, and Silvia just shrugged.


    "I guess."


    With a slight sigh, Ryan pulled his friend into a hug, and could quickly feel her return it. The two stood there for a few moments like that, and then let go of each other again. Silvia smiled lightly, "Yeah, now I''m definitely alright. I don''t know, what my dad just told me is kind of... wild, but the way he''s acting is kind of weird. Not really what I expected from him."


    Ryan scratched the back of his head, "I mean, if his only experience with vampires is ''that'' kind of stuff, then... I guess I can''t totally blame him for being nervous. It''s the whole reason why they''ve been in hiding in the first place."


    "Sure, but dad has always just been this really good, kind guy, and hearing him just blanket-judge people like that feels weird."


    Ryan shrugged, "Parents aren''t really infallible, huh?"


    Nodding, Silvia glanced over at her father for just a moment, "Yeah, I guess. As long as he gets it, it''s fine? Maybe? He was just really worried because of me and my past stuff."


    Connecting all the dots with what he knew, Ryan raised his brows, "Oh, okay, that... Yeah, in that case I definitely get it. But I''m sorry, if your dad keeps acting like Liam is a violent man-eater, I''m gonna clock him."


    With a scoff, Silvia turned around, "Yeah, sure, I wanna see that. You can''t even reach his face."


    "I''ve got my ways," Ryan laughed, "Anyway, let''s just chill, alright? I''ve been in a hell of a shitty mood for a while now, and I wanna change that."


    "Same. I''ll go join Yanna by the water," Silvia replied, and Ryan nodded, "I''ll put down my stuff and join after."


    "Cool!"


    With that, the two very briefly split up. The elf went over toward the river while Ryan walked to the blankets. His mother and uncle, as well as Silvia and Yanna''s mother, were sitting there talking for a bit, getting properly set up. Since he didn''t want to interrupt them, Ryan just took off his sweat jacket and dropped it onto the side of the blanket. Immediately, both Mary and Athina stared at Ryan, taken aback.


    Athina hadn''t seen Ryan''s scars before, so seeing something like that on a boy her daughters'' age really took her by a more than unpleasant surprise. But Mary was surprised for a similar, but still different reason.


    "Ryan, are those new scars? What happened? Are those... Ryan, were you shot?" Mary asked, startled, and Ryan stared back down at her. He glanced at his torso and leg, where the scars of the gunshot wounds from just a couple weeks ago were obviously very clearly on display.


    "Uh... no? Th-These aren''t bullet wounds, they''re just my regular old... stab... wounds," Ryan started, looking over at Athina, "That sounds a lot worse than it should, uh... I wasn''t, like, stabbed stabbed, just poked a little bit. Nothing serious. Yeah, anyway, old wounds, nothing new. But what is new is that tattoo thing, it''s from a skill. Looks kind of cool, right?"


    "Ryan..." Mary stared up at her son and pushed herself off the ground, "What''s going on?"


    Closing his eyes for a few moments, Ryan took a deep breath, "It''s nothing, mom, I''m fine. Legitimately, these aren''t a big deal. Everything is healed over, I''m not in any pain. You know how things are with me."


    Mary looked her son in the eyes, "Are you sure?"


    "Yeah."


    "Did you start it?"


    "No, of course not. I don''t start things," Ryan replied instantly, and Mary just let out a long sigh that honestly kind of broke Ryan''s heart. Because he could tell that his mother''s heart was breaking too.


    "Alright, if you say so," she replied, patting her son on the shoulder, "But you''ll tell me if..."


    "I will. If anything''s wrong, I''ll tell you," Ryan said, though he knew he was lying. He wanted it to be the truth, of course. Lying didn''t feel good, but it was just part of this. Telling his mother the truth usually would just hurt her even more, and Ryan didn''t want to see that happen.


    Seeing his mother sit back down on the blanket, Ryan turned around. He just figured he should head over to his friends for now. Maybe try to forget about this. Forget about the fact that he just absolutely disappointed his mother with that.

 106 - Seafoam

    Ryan stepped down into the lake''s water. It was fairly still as it was a clear and windless day, so the ripples created by his body felt almost overly exaggerated, like he was forcefully trying to disturb the surface.


    "Come on, you two, I don''t know what happened, but just take it easy! Spirit week is only once a year!" Yanna exclaimed, "Just enjoy the day!"


    Turning his head over to the elf standing next to him, Ryan locked eyes with Silvia. They were both in a bad mood, but Yanna was absolutely right. Being all mopey over things they couldn''t do anything about right now wouldn''t help anyone.


    Silvia sighed, "I guess we should just talk to them later? Maybe I can get my dad to understand things a bit better."


    "... Yeah alright, I''ll talk to my mom and explain some things to her as well," Ryan responded, hoping that was all, but the elf''s stare made it very obvious that it wasn''t all, "Okay, fine, I''ll talk to Runar too. Happy?"


    "Yup," Silvia replied with a smile, turning back toward her sister, "Now, let''s get-"


    Before Silvia could finish her sentence, Yanna had already struck the water, splashing the pair without them even realizing.


    "... You made a massive mistake, Redhorn," Silvia grumbled, closing her eyes for a moment, as Yanna just laughed in response.


    "Did I? And what''re you gonna do about it?" crossing her arms, Yanna almost built herself up to tower above the two in front of her even more than before, "I''m bigger and stronger than you, so what do you think you two will be able to achieve?"


    Looking at the two sisters, Ryan scoffed inwardly. Those two were able to switch to playing around like this far too easily. Silvia moved the wet hair out of her face, grinning broadly, "You may have the benefit of strength, but we have numbers! Ryan, get out-"


    "Nope," Ryan responded immediately, shooting Silvia down already. It was fine to play along, but he knew that Silvia was about to ask for something he couldn''t do.


    "Wh-What? But you''re the card up our sleeve," the elf whispered, glancing back at Yanna sometimes, "If we don''t have the spirits, we can''t fight against someone as strong as Yanna."


    "Gregor and Maximus are made of metal, so they might rust. I know I can fix them up again but I don''t want to put them through that. And Gaia has too much dirt on her body that could be washed away, not even mentioning the plants. The state of her body does affect her garden as well, so I don''t know what will happen if she''s submerged like that," Ryan explained, and Silvia groaned loudly.


    "Then what are we supposed to do? Can we take her on all on our own?" Silvia wondered, and a solemn smile formed on Ryan''s face.


    "Even if we don''t think we can, we just have to try. Even if we''re not physical Awakened, it''s still two versus one..."


    "I-I''m a production type, I can''t do battle!"


    "And I''m a summoner, I''m useless without my summons, but that doesn''t mean we can''t give it a shot!" Ryan retorted, turning back toward Yanna, "Give it your-"


    This time, Ryan was interrupted as Yanna once again struck the water and splashed a wave at them. Spitting out the bit of water that got into his mouth, Ryan stared at the minotaur as she laughed, "What, fey got your tongue?"


    "Hey, leave my girlfriend out of it!" Silvia said, pointing at her older sister before striking at the water herself. It was smaller than what Yanna had produced, but the minotaur was still quickly splashed. Silvia and Ryan looked at each other, briefly nodding as they locked eyes, as the battle truly began.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Stepping out of the water, Ryan''s feet pressed down onto the mixed sand and gravel. They were rather pokey at times, but it wasn''t that bad, so Ryan just continued on. Silvia, who was trying to follow behind him, was struggling a lot more.


    "Urgh, why is this hurt more than it did getting in?" Silvia grumbled, and Ryan turned around to his friend.


    "Stop being a wuss," he scoffed, continuing to walk over to the blankets where the others were sitting. Ryan squatted down next to Liam, since he left his backpack with him, and quickly grabbed a protein bar from his bag. He knew that the plan was to have a barbeque later on, but with how hungry he was these days, he would be fine to eat however much was served to him.


    Ryan looked over at the game that Liam was still playing. He was still at the same place he was when Ryan went into the water earlier, "You sure you don''t need any help?" he asked.


    Liam looked up at him and grumbled slightly, "I... may be a in a bit of a pickle here."


    With a smile, Ryan sat down next to the kid and held out his hand. Liam handed him the game console, "I actually played a lot of this when it first came out. There''s a bit of a trick to it," he explained, quickly moving the player character around. The part that Liam was stuck at was a boss monster toward the middle of the game. Ryan remembered getting stuck at this same spot when he first played it. He ended up having to look up what he had to do, and it turned out that there was a trick to beating it, "Okay, basically, when the boss stomps its foot down, you can see these small cracks form on the ground for a moment. That''s the hint. You get similar cracks when you throw a bomb down on the ground."


    "Huh? So what, do you need to blow the monster up?" Liam asked, "I''ve been trying to do that the whole time though..."Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    "Actually, that''s not what you need to do at all," Ryan explained, "You can beat the boss like that, just whittling down at its health and all, but if you do that it''s going to take forever. Instead, you need to make the bomb explode somewhere and then while the ground is still cracked, lure the boss over there and have it stomp down in that spot."


    Liam''s eyes widened as he watched Ryan do exactly that. The bomb exploded, and in a large circle around it, cracks spread through the stone brick floor. The massive boss monster quickly approached as Ryan lured it into stomping, and he then quickly rolled out of the way. As the boss monster stomped down, the floor cracked, and a fountain of water spouted out.


    "Ah!" Liam let out, as he now understood what he needed to do. With the enemy covered in water, he would be able to use one of the hero''s abilities to get rid of the monster''s armour. Ryan glanced over toward him.


    "Want to do the rest?" Ryan asked, and Liam quickly nodded. Quickly pausing the game, Ryan handed it back over, and Liam took a deep breath. He unpaused, and quickly proceeded with the rest of the fight. It took him a little bit to properly get the timing right to repeatedly make the monster destroy the floor, but he got the hang of it soon enough. And with that, before long, Liam was able to finally beat the boss that he''s been trying to beat for a while now.


    As the monster went down, he practically shook with excitement, "Finally!" he exclaimed, looking over at Ryan, "Look, I did it!"


    "You sure did. Congrats, bud," Ryan said with a smile, pushing himself off the blanket as he noticed the others looking in their direction. With how loud Liam''s excitement was, that really wasn''t a surprise either. He had been sitting here silently the whole time, doing his own thing. It was probably the first time that Silvia and Yanna''s parents actually heard Liam say something. And especially to Dimos, that seemed to be a pretty confusing sight. After all, what this vampire boy was doing right now was exactly what any kid his age would do. If it weren''t for his vampiric fangs, it would be almost impossible to figure out he was anything but a regular kid.


    <hr>


    [Jester''s Excitement has risen slightly]


    <hr>


    Looking at the message that popped up in front of his eyes, Ryan was left utterly confused. What exactly happened that made Jester excited this time? According to the, albeit completely one-sided, conversation Ryan had with him, Jester''s excitement would rise whenever Ryan felt some strong emotions. Anything that made his heart race would be enough. And sure, he felt pretty happy that Liam was so excited, but-


    "Oh by the gods," Ryan groaned loudly, "Is that it? Did I misunderstand? It''s not just when I get excited, but when others around me are excited as well?"


    With an annoyed expression, realizing that he had wasted a lot of time with this, Ryan got up and walked over to Silvia.


    "You grew up here, do you know where the most people will gather for the show tonight?" he asked, and Silvia quickly thought about it.


    "Uhm... I think there''s a lot of people anywhere, to be honest. But if it''s the busiest, then... Well, if it''s the same as usual, that would be on top of the lake later."


    Ryan raised a brow, "On top of the lake? What do you mean?"


    "Did you not see any videos or pictures about it? As part of the show, people can walk onto the lake through some kind of magic. And honestly, most people do, it''s always so cool and fun. It''s also the best place to see the rest of the show!"


    A smile formed on Ryan''s face. If that was the case, then the answer to what he was wondering was simple. He just had to go join everyone on top of the lake later. Hopefully, the ''excitement'' from everyone around him could be enough to finally wake Jester up, and if not, he might have to figure out something else. Maybe he could go to a real amusement park, and not just the abandoned kind that turned into a dungeon over the years. Either way, he wouldn''t need to put himself in danger to try and awaken Jester, which was something he felt a little apprehensive toward.


    "Alright... Thanks. So, until then..." Ryan held out his hand, finally letting the spirits out of their domains, at least the two of them that were interested to. Gregor stayed in the domain and just kept drinking while tinkering with something. Last night, he had apparently finished properly analysing some of the guns that Runar had given to him and was now trying to turn what he learned into a new blueprint, though Ryan had no idea what that was actually all about.


    However, Maximus and Gaia seemed more than happy to join! Though, Ryan made sure to summon Maximus on the blanket. While Gaia would be fine here on the sand, Ryan didn''t want anything to get stuck in the folds of the knight''s armour, or maybe even inside of his body. It would probably be left behind when Maximus entered his domain again, but Ryan didn''t really want to risk anything.


    Over the next few hours, the group spent the rest of the day celebrating Goria''s day. They ate food together, hung out, played around with water guns or balloons, and just enjoyed the holiday together. But it didn''t take all too long until it was time for the true event, that so many people had gathered by the lake for. The formerly so clear sky was now covered in thick, dark clouds. Rain droplets were starting to drop from those clouds. On every other day, this would be something to ruin the fun, but today, this was part of what everyone was here for.


    Goria was the great spirit of water. Rain was one of their domains. Though he wasn''t sure if it was because of some wide-range magic that was cast all over the place, or because Goria themself tried to join the celebrations, Ryan couldn''t remember a single time in his life where it didn''t rain during the third day of spirit week. Some years it was nothing more than a shower, and other years it was the strongest storm of the summer, but rain was always a part of this day.


    Of course, everyone came prepared for this as well. Those that were more prone to getting sick from the rain would wear jackets and carry around umbrellas, and almost everyone carried a towel or two with them as well as some method of warming up. In Ryan''s case, there wasn''t much of a need for him to keep warm. He never really got sick after staying out in the rain, plus, today was a rather pleasant day so even the rain wasn''t all too cold. And even if he did end up a bit cold later, the group had some heating stones with them.


    As the rain properly started up, it seemed to be time for the show to begin alongside it. Looking at the lake, from under the surface, light seemed to shine out, more than there already was. Particularly now that it was getting a little darker, the light from the town at the bottom of the lake was becoming visible. Since the water was kept clean with magic to ensure that everyone living in the lake and the larger river itself could be safe and healthy, during the night, especially when some kind of festival or celebration was happening, you could see the hustle and bustle from the town shine through.


    And now, glowing bubbles were floating up from the bottom of the lake. Rays of colourful light shone out from inside. Apparently, the show in the actual submerged town was supposed to be at another level of beautiful, but that was an extremely limited space, so most people opted to stay outside. Ryan didn''t love being stuck in a place with a crowd, so there was no way he would go down there. Though, he could probably hold out for a while in the place he was about to go.


    Ryan watched as the bubbles reached the surface of the water, forming a layer of foam on top as the burst into hundreds of smaller ones. The foam let off a soft, ethereal glow, and each bubble lit up momentarily as one of the raindrops hit it. Watching from a distance, Ryan saw people walk onto the water, specifically the parts where the seafoam had gathered. The places they stepped on lit up softly as well, and as more and more people joined, the whole lake seemed to let off a soft shine.


    Ryan watched as Silvia and Yanna made their way toward the water as well, and took a deep breath, following after them.

 107 - Toad

    As Ryan''s foot pushed down onto the foam, it began to let off a soft glow that only grew stronger as he put more weight onto it. It felt unusual to walk on this, as the bubbles did give way to some degree, almost like walking on a bumpy rubber mat. Either way, seeing how confidently the others were walking, Ryan knew that there was nothing to really worry about.


    Gaia and Maximus were back inside of their domains, since Ryan was going to be too far away from where they could wait otherwise. Not just because he didn''t know if they would actually not get wet, but also because of the crowd that was forming on top of the lake, Ryan didn''t want them to get caught up in anything. As the dark lake was suddenly filled with a rainbow of light, the crowd came together, reaching the place on the lake that most of the bubbles seemed to converge. As more people gathered, the show also continued. Besides the small bubbles that formed the foam, there were some that were pushing their way through that layer, softly floating up into the sky. But they weren''t just regular bubbles, rather, they were parts of the lake that seemed to be lifted out. Ryan could actually spot a few that carried a few very confused fish in them.


    Not long after Ryan reached the middle of the lake, the bubbles that were carried into the air had become so many that it was hard to see what was beyond them. Their water reflected the light from the glowing foam, almost appearing like they themself were letting off a soft light. But as time went on, the bubbles carried out from the water only became larger, carrying more water with them. There were some people that were almost waiting for the larger bubbles, jumping into them, swimming in the orbs of water. From down below, there were actually some aquarian folk that were brought along for the journey, happily waving at the crowd that had been waiting on top.


    Ryan could see the happy expressions of everyone around him as they were looking at the beautiful sight surrounding them. But this was still only part of the show. The bubbles continued to float upward in a spiral, finally reaching a peak what seemed to be hundreds of metres in the air.


    The light from the lake was reflected upward and upward, shining through the bubbles and glittering like the stars as the raindrops fell down onto them. And that rain itself was also starting to feel different, as if the droplets were a bit too slow. Before long, that became even more blatant, and the droplets were just floating there. Just by blowing in their direction, you could push them away like gravity had just completely turned off for them.


    When the droplets began to move toward the bubbles, bouncing up and down from them in every direction, they bubbles began to give off soft metallic percussion sounds like that of rain drums, and a melody sounded out through the area.


    It was truly a sight that you couldn''t see every single day. Massive amounts of magic and a ridiculous level of degree were needed to achieve something like this, that was obvious to anyone even if they had no idea about magic at all. The view from outside the lake must already be amazing, but standing here below the bubbles and droplets was a whole other experience that Ryan couldn''t compare to anything else he had seen so far. And that seemed to be the case for almost anyone that was standing here beside him. Both Yanna and Silvia had a glitter in their eyes that even they rarely showed, though they were already on the more easily excitable side of things.


    <hr>


    [Jester''s Excitement has risen considerably]


    <hr>


    And it seemed like Ryan was the only one that thought so. For the first time, the message read ''considerably'' instead of slightly. This meant that they were on the right track. There had to be something else here, right?


    Leaning over toward Silvia, he whispered into her ear, "Jester''s nearly there, is there anything else?"


    The elf raised her brows, quickly rattling her brain, "Uh, I... Right, yes! There was one last thing! It only happens every four years, but the spirit of the lake is coming out to join the celebration!"


    Ryan smiled lightly, "Really? Hell yeah, that should-" he started, though the moment he said so, a bad sensation filled the pit of his stomach, "Hold on, just... no..."


    He let out a long groan as he watched something appear from underneath the water. It was mountainous and dark, with bulging warts all over its body. A massive toad covered in algae peaked its head out, as people let out an excited smile. Ryan turned over to Silvia, "Is that what the spirit is supposed to look like?"


    Silvia nervously shook her head, "I don''t... I don''t think so..? Is that..?"


    "Aaargh fuuuck," Ryan yelled out, frustrated, as the people directly next to him stared right at him, "What''re you lookin'' at?"


    The bubbles at the top of the spiral started to act weird. Silvia had explained what was supposed to happen a little bit earlier, and apparently the bubbles should just carefully lower back into the water, softly letting down anyone that might be swimming in them. But now, they were quaking rapidly, falling apart. The rhythm of the rain drums was starting to distort, and rather than being a calming, natural melody, it was a forceful song that seemed to assault the senses. Slowly but surely, everyone realized that something was going on. With how heavy the air was getting, there was no way that it wouldn''t be obvious even to those that didn''t have Ryan''s intuition.


    And then, the water came crashing down, all at once, as if gravity had returned to all of it. The foam underneath the people on the lake gave way, and Ryan quickly found the glowing foam clinging to his skin.


    He didn''t know what was going on, and the situation was getting worse by the second. People were panicking, trying to kick at the water to swim back to shore. Ryan felt some people hitting his shoulder and someone even kicked his face, and more than one person pushed him down under the water in a panic.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ryan was also starting to freak out as the air in his lungs was forcefully pushed out by his body, but he could feel Tiar''s calming squeeze on his arm. A symbiote was a being closely connected to water. They were born within it, and they held its essence deeply. Maybe that was why Tiar''s influence was enough to let Ryan calm down. He soon saw his friends beside him. Yanna seemed to have regained her composure rather quickly and was trying to figure out where Ryan and Silvia were. Ryan himself quickly pushed through to the surface and gasped for air.


    "Ryan, did you see Silvia?! Where''s Silvia, she-" Yanna asked anxiously, and Ryan immediately dove down under the water before she was even able to finish her sentence. Luckily, the foam was still letting off its glow, even if it had weakened considerably, and was lighting up the surrounding area. Spotting Silvia quickly, Ryan dove down. Silvia wasn''t moving, sinking down deeper into the water.


    He grabbed her hand and pulled her up, trying to find a gap between the people pushing each other away. Once at the top, Ryan pushed Silvia toward her sister, and quickly looked into the Minotaur''s eyes, "Bring her to shore! And then find my bag, I have a small bottle in there with a greenish copper colour! Tell Runar to get it to me somehow!"


    "Runar? Your uncle? But-"


    "Just do it!" Ryan didn''t give her time to question him as he turned around, swimming toward the massive toad that had to be cause of all this. It was just sitting there on top of the water, menacingly staring at the havoc that it was causing. The spirit of the lake was already corrupted. Ryan figured that Richie would have done something to spirits beside just Maribelle, but to think that they would do it right before today. This was probably the worst place something like this could happen.


    "Fuck-" Ryan swam toward the toad as fast as he could. He would need to somehow cure it from this state, but he wasn''t sure if he could do the exact same thing as before with Maribelle. Or rather, he was fairly certain he couldn''t. Even if he could douse the toad in the cure once he got his hands on it, it was raining, and worst case, it could simply submerge and effectively make Ryan waste part of the cure. If only it weren''t raining. Toads absorbed things through their skin incredibly easily, so the cure should be pretty effective otherwise.


    Whichever the case, Ryan was fairly certain that the corruption couldn''t spread through touch anymore. Otherwise, Richie would have infected anyone that he came across. Not to mention, though the toad spirit seemed clearly corrupted, there was none of that black gunk that Ryan knew he needed to avoid.


    Basically rolling a die, Ryan grabbed onto the side of the toad''s body. Its body felt disgusting, beyond just the bumpy sliminess. Mentally, it felt like he was pushing his hand into a dirty trashcan in a bathroom to the point he wanted to throw up. Corruption really felt disgusting. Even so, Ryan had to do his best. He climbed onto the toad''s body, and by the time he got out of the water, the bulging eye on its right side was staring at him.


    The toad shook its body, trying to get Ryan off, but he simply dug his fingers deeper into its soft skin. It pulled back in pain, just shaking harder than before, and slowly but surely, Ryan was sliding off.


    "Gaia!" Ryan exclaimed, and the golem almost immediately stepped out of her domain, appearing on the toad spirit''s back at double her normal size. Ryan watched as the toad''s legs sprawled out, and Gaia quickly pulled him up onto the spirit''s back. For now, if he could pin it down like this, then that was great, but he had to make sure to unsummon Gaia right away if things got worse.


    Looking into the distance, Ryan was trying to find Yanna to see how close she was to reaching the beach, but it was too dark to see anything at all. Some people had turned on torches or other lamps but that wasn''t enough for Ryan to be able to tell what was going on there.


    But there was one thing that he did quickly spot, and that was a light, distant glow that was clearly of magical nature. Feeling in his gut that he had to hurry, Ryan regained his composure and jumped up, stretching his hand up as far as he could. And as if guided there, the glass bottle with the concentrated cure landed in his hand immediately.


    Ryan fumbled with the bottle''s lid. His hands were too slippery from the toad''s slimy body; he wasn''t able to open it up.


    "Godsdammit!" with an angry yell, Ryan tried to use his teeth to turn the lid, but as he was trying, the toad spirit was starting to fight back more actively. It pushed itself off the water as if it were solid ground, trying to shake Gaia and Ryan off. He could already feel himself lose balance, and that was definitely going to just be worse for Gaia, so he pulled her back into her domain. Once her weight disappeared from the toad''s body, it jumped into the air. It clearly hadn''t intended to do so, but with a two metre tall golem suddenly disappearing from its back, its attempts to get back up were rather overwhelming.


    It jumped a few metres into the air and Ryan was unable to keep holding on. He fell back into the water right next to the toad, letting go of the bottle in the process. At least it was still closed, so the cure wasn''t lost, but Ryan had to scramble to get it back, only barely grabbing it before it was too late. Not to mention, he wasn''t on top of the toad anymore, which was even worse.


    The corrupted spirit stared right at him, and a moment later, its tongue darted out at his upper body. The water splashed all around him as the punch-like impact struck his chest. Like glue, the tongue stuck to him and pulled Ryan toward the toad, and he could see himself get closer and closer to the dark abyss that was the toad''s mouth.


    "M-Maximus!" as Ryan yelled this out, the knight jumped out of his domain with the dagger Ripper in his hand, and he immediately cut into the toad''s tongue. Before it was able to close its massive mouth around Ryan''s body, he was able to jump out and climb back onto its back. By now, it seemed as though the mages realized that something was going on and were trying to see things better, so the rain started fading away. Ryan practically tore the lid off the bottle with his teeth the moment he felt the rain had gone down enough, and then poured the liquid out onto the toad''s back. He could see it being pulled in almost immediately, and was trying to pool as much of it as he could with his arms to keep it on the toad''s back.


    The spirit convulsed in pain as its skin began to crack like clay, as if the cure completely dried out its skin. It convulsed on top of the water, and slowly began to sink back into the lake as if it were some kind of swamp rather than the regular water that it was.


    Ryan took heavy breaths, quickly pulling Maximus back into his domain before he sank down into the water. Soon enough, the mages had decided to put a spotlight on the area as an orb of light appeared in the sky to give them a proper view of the situation. But all they saw was a single young man still left in the water, before he quickly dove down. He had no time to worry about who could see him.


    He swam down to the toad as it was trying to tear its skin off of its own body. Realizing what was going on, Ryan got to it and helped, pulling away the corrupted skin. Layer by layer, he was removing what was there, and the bits that were pulled off simply crumbled away without another trace.


    At some point, the toad stopped. Its body went limp, as if it was unconscious. Ryan''s mind began to race as the rest of the toad''s body began to fall apart as well.

 108 - Gorias Gratitude

    The toad spirit sunk down into the water. Like layers of mud that were stuck to its body, masses of corruption cracked off its body and dissolved into the water. Ryan had no idea what was going on and what was happening to the spirit, but he hoped that it was really just shedding the corruption. The fact that it had gone limp was absolutely terrifying to look at, though. What if the type of corruption that it was infected with couldn''t be cured in the same way once it grabbed a full hold of its victim?


    Maribelle was just freshly infected; it happened literally in front of Ryan''s eyes. But who knew how long this one held it inside of its body already? It could have fused so deeply into its very being that removing it was like tearing apart a building''s structural supports. With his teeth ground together, Ryan dove underwater, swimming toward the sinking, limp toad. Its body was dropping quite slowly, so it was easy enough to catch up.


    Soon, Ryan was able to reach out his arm and grabbed onto the toad''s leg. As he tightened his hand, its body seemed to cave in under his palm, as if it was made of paper. Ryan pulled away the spirit''s corrupted flesh, digging for what could be laying underneath. In the end, there was one thing that would be left behind, even if the body was destroyed. And there it was, a small, pale blue, slightly green, gemstone. It was the same size as the other spirit cores that he had seen, though this one had a slight growth on one side. It was similar to the seed that had imbedded itself in the space between the domains in Ryan''s mind, but still different enough to not latch onto his skin as he grabbed the core.


    Quickly, with the stone in his hand, Ryan swam back up to the surface. He grabbed the bottle again and removed the cap, dropping the core into the liquid to purge any leftover corruption that seemed to be attacking the core. The small growth dislodged and left behind a tiny seed, just as Ryan thought, as the core itself seemed to be healed.


    A moment later, it fell apart into water that flowed out of the bottle. Ryan closed the lid again, watching as the core reformed itself outside of the bottle. But not just the core, but a small figure was built around it. It was a frog, standing on two legs. There was a species of frog-people, but this was different. The spirit appeared like a simple, small frog that had somehow learned to walk. It wore a suit, the kind that an orchestra''s conductor would wear. The frog stood on the surface of the water, and quickly bowed to Ryan. The two locked eyes, and Ryan could feel a spark in the back of his head.


    <hr>


    [Goria, the Great Spirit of Water, thanks you for rescuing her child]


    [She notes the presence of one that has been blessed by her in the past within you. Goria asks you seek out her shrine]


    <hr>


    Ryan looked at the message and smiled, though he didn''t really care much about what it said. Rather, he was just glad that the lake''s spirit was alright. With a laugh, he let the water carry his weight, "What, you''re not even gonna give me a quest for that?" he said, though he of course wasn''t serious.


    Though, whether he was serious or not didn''t seem to matter much. Goria heard him, and responded quickly.


    <hr>


    [Goria''s Gratitude]


    [The Great Spirit of Water Goria has noticed your dedication to help those in need, and realized you are already assisting one of her kin. She wishes to reward you, and assist you in your journey. Seek out her shrine, her place of birth]


    [Conditions - Enter Goria''s Shrine]


    [On Success - Goria''s Reward]


    <hr>


    Seeing the message pop up in front of him, Ryan could feel his heart skip a beat, "W-Wait, I wasn''t serious, you don''t need to give me a quest! I''m going to come to you, don''t worry, just-"


    Ryan said, but before he could finish his sentence, the spirit standing on the water in front of him waved his hand, pulling Ryan out of the water. The jolt surprised Ryan so much that he forgot what he was saying, but he was even more surprised when he found himself standing on top of the water. Though, this time, it was the actual water, and not the foam that was on top of it. Feeling the waves moving under his feet despite appearing solid to him was rather jarring. But then, having those waves push him toward the shore like a conveyor belt was even more surprising.


    The frog spirit accompanied Ryan back to the beach. Almost pushing him onto the solid ground, the spirit ''said'' his goodbyes, bowing to Ryan as his feet sank into the wet sand, before quickly disappearing.


    Before he even knew it, Ryan felt his mother pull him into a hug, "Honey, are you okay? Did you get hurt? What happened out there, did that monster attack you?"


    As Mary looked Ryan up and down, he quickly held her by the shoulder to get her attention, "Mom, it''s okay, I''m fine. That wasn''t a monster. It was-"


    Ryan could feel his uncle''s stare from behind his mother, but he didn''t care anymore, "It was a spirit that was infected with something called ''corruption''. I managed to cure it, so nothing is going to happen anymore."


    "You cured it? What do you mean? Is that one of your abilities..?"


    Ryan slowly shook his head, "Not directly, no. I''ll explain it to you later. Either way, I promise, everything is fine."


    Mary let out a long, relieved sigh, "Thank the gods... I saw everyone in such a panic after falling into the water... especially when Yanna came and Silvia was unconscious, but you were nowhere to be seen, I..." she said, slowly looking over toward Runar, as if she remembered something, "Right, actually, what did you take from Ryan''s bag earlier?"


    Runar nervously looked at his sister-in-law, "It was the... the cure that Ryan had found before, I just figured he would need it..."


    "And how did you get it to him? You did something there... do you have some kind of magic tool on you?"


    "I-"


    "Mom, where are Silvia and Yanna?" Ryan interrupted the conversation. He wanted his mother to learn all of this, but he didn''t want that to happen right here, right now. Especially because he knew that Runar might not have the best response for her right now. Mary turned around and looked at Ryan with her brows raised.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Right, they went back up to the car! Silvia is fine, by the way, her sister did first aid on her. She just needs to rest for now," Mary explained, "They''ll bring her to the hospital to get her checked on, just in case..."


    "Got it. You guys just pack up as well," Ryan said, immediately rushing past the others. He pushed the cure into his bag and then quickly picked it up, pushing his sandy feet into his shoes. Ryan ran back toward the parking lot, looking around for the Redhorns'' car. The moment he spotted it, he rushed past the crowd of other people that wanted to leave the beach.


    "Silvia!" Ryan quickly squeezed in front of the car''s trunk, where Silvia was sitting right now, drinking some water with a towel pressed on her face, "Are you okay?"


    The elf looked at Ryan with a hazy expression, slowly shaking her head. Dimos, who was surprised to see Ryan there, quickly explained, "Someone kicked her in the face. She''s completely out of it, so we''re bringing her to the hospital. But she''s feeling pretty ill right now."


    "Yeah, alright... that makes sense," Ryan let out a long sigh, "You were trying to figure out what was going on with your insight skill, right?"


    Surprised that he figured it out, Silvia nodded her head. He figured it was something like this. Silvia''s insight basically transported the emotions and concepts connected to what she was looking at directly into her mind, allowing her to express it in her own unique way. And Ryan already felt repulsed just touching the spirit''s corrupted body, and seeing it with that skill must have felt like being assaulted by everything that was bad. That wasn''t even accounting for the chaos that was unfolding around her. The panic of the injured and confused people that were suddenly dropped into the water must have just added to the mix.


    "Okay, in that case just take it easy with that. Or, actually..." Ryan held out his hand, calling Gaia out of her domain, "Focus on her for a second."


    Being a nature spirit, and especially with Gaia''s generally tranquil nature, maybe using the insight skill on her could clear up Silvia''s mind a bit. Carefully, the elf did as asked, and just a moment later, she seemed to relax.


    "Thanks," Silvia breathed out slightly, "That actually really, really helped... Do you want me to make you an item to help with your own freakouts using this insight?"


    Ryan scoffed, "Honestly, maybe. And show me your nose real quick, as well."


    "I don''t think that''s a good idea," Dimos interrupted, "Her nose is broken, if she''s feeling better, we really just need to get to the hospital."


    Turning around toward the minotaur, Ryan smiled lightly. He knew what he meant, but there really was no need for that. After all, the copper wildflowers weren''t the only plants to blossom recently. Just the other day, the blood roses bloomed, and they were able to harvest its qualities as well, turning it into a small salve and a few pills.


    Blood roses had potent healing qualities, and got their name from the fact that they were one of the few healing items that could help replenish a person''s blood if ingested. So, since Silvia needed it right now, Ryan figured he would give some of them to her. They had already harvested some new seeds to replant, and there was still plenty for Ryan to use when he needed it.


    He got out the small ointment jar and the bag with pills, "Take the pill once the bleeding stops or when you start feeling too dizzy," Ryan said, giving one to Silvia. It was a small, fingernail-sized red orb that felt almost glassy to the touch. Rose had made this one with Runar''s assistance, so these healing items should be pretty potent.


    And then, Ryan grabbed a gauze from the open first-aid kit next to Silvia and used it to grab a bit of the salve, carefully dabbing it on Silvia''s nose and all the areas around it that seemed swollen. Silvia''s eyes widened immediately, "The pain is gone already... This stuff is good, huh?"


    Dimos looked at Ryan confused, "What is that? Some kind of numbing cream?"


    "No, it''s a strong healing salve."


    "What? Why would you have something like that?" the minotaur asked concerned, and Ryan glanced up at him. Ryan still wasn''t wearing a shirt, since he had rushed over here before he could put one on, so Dimos should be able to see his body right now. Though, he seemed genuinely concerned, so Ryan figured he might as well answer.


    "If I had to give you a reason... it would be to make sure that kids like Liam can be kids," he said. Dimos seemed even more confused, but before he could continue to question Ryan, his wife and other daughter returned. It seemed as though they went around to ask what was going on. Seeing Ryan, Yanna immediately placed a hand onto his back.


    "Are you okay? What happened over there?" she asked, only now seeing that Ryan was applying some kind of salve to her sister''s face, "And what are you doing?"


    "It''s all good, don''t worry," Ryan replied, "Everything''s taken care of."


    "Everything is- What are you talking about? What was that bottle you asked me to give your uncle? What the hell is-"


    Ryan straightened his back and pulled away from Silvia since he was done applying the salve, "Calm down. As I said, everything is fine. Just take it easy, go home, and rest. And I don''t think Silvia needs to go to the hospital right away either," Ryan explained, but Yanna just seemed confused.


    "What do you mean? Her nose is broken, so-" she started, before finally looking over at Silvia. The swelling was going down in front of everyone''s eyes, and Silvia''s nose was even setting itself back into place. The blood rose salve was doing its job perfectly, and incredibly fast as well. Seeing how the bleeding had stopped, Silvia quickly placed the pill into her mouth and took a swig of her water, quickly swallowing it. A flash of red flowed past her eyes a moment later as the pill''s magic filled her body. Silvia''s cheeks turned a rosy pink.


    "Whoa, that feels... weird," she pointed out, and Ryan smiled lightly.


    "Yeah, I guess it would. The pill also has some overall healing properties, by the way, so you should feel healthier in general for a few days," Ryan explained, leaning into the elf, "I''ll call you later and tell you what was going on. For now, just go home and rest, okay?" he whispered.


    Silvia slowly nodded, "Alright, let''s do that."


    By then, Ryan''s mother, uncle, as well as Liam had made their way back to the parking lot as well. Seeing Silvia suddenly fine, Mary seemed particularly confused.


    "What? I thought she was..."


    "I''ll explain later," Ryan said with a smile as he put away the blood rose items, "For now, let''s just wait until the parking lot clears out. It seems like a lot of people want to leave right now."


    He said, looking over toward the road. It was completely jammed with people trying to leave in a panic. There were sirens of police cars and ambulances approaching as well, clogging things up even more. Now that Silvia was fine, everyone could just take a breather and calm down for a bit.


    "So what happened, the mages lost control of the magic out there?" Yanna asked, "Did it have something to do with that monster?"


    "Wait, monster? Like those in a dungeon?" Dimos asked confused, "Why would a monster be here?"


    Ryan quickly cleared that up, "It wasn''t a monster, don''t worry. It was a spirit whose magic went out of control for a bit," he explained, "But I helped it out. You know, being a summoner and all."


    "Ah..." the minotaur let out relieved, "But a spirit just went out of control like that...? That''s not..."


    "It wasn''t his fault. It''s a complicated situation," Ryan explained, though he obviously couldn''t explain the whole situation, so he was scrambling to come up with something to change the topic, "Oh, right, do any of you guys know where Goria''s shrine is?"


    "Shrine? Does she even have one?" Silvia wondered, surprised. Ryan quickly nodded.


    "I would think so yeah. I mean, she invited me there, with a quest and all," he said, and only when he voiced that fact out loud and saw the expressions of the people around him did he realize that maybe this wasn''t the best way to change the topic.

 109 - The Truth

    Finally arriving back home, Ryan walked to his room with an exhausted groan. He put down his things and grabbed a change of clothes. He really had to take a shower. Though there wasn''t any corruption stuck to him, he felt completely dirty nonetheless. As he was about to walk back out of his room, though, he was stopped by his uncle.


    Runar looked around to make sure that Mary wasn''t nearby, and then closed the door behind him, "You played it off way too fast earlier. Were you seriously invited to Goria''s shrine?"


    Quietly, Ryan nodded. He didn''t know what he should say to Runar right now. Ryan was still mad at him, but he was probably the only person he could ask about the location of Goria''s shrine right now, "You know where it is?"


    Runar let out a long sigh, "Yes, it''s nearby. Not in the lake itself, but this underground natural water reservoir that''s sort of connected to every major body of water in the country."


    "Alright. Then let''s go there," Ryan responded, but Runar quickly shook his head.


    "We can''t just ''go there''. First of all, it''s a protected area. There are a lot of bureaucratic hurdles that go into even entering the tunnels to the reservoir, not to mention the actual shrine itself," he explained, though he was clearly thinking about a way to make it work, "Do you know what exactly Goria wants with you?"


    Ryan thought about the quest, and the system window quickly appeared in front of him again, "It just says she wants to reward me and ''assist me in my journey''. Though I''ve got no idea what that''s supposed to mean."


    "... Just for saving a spirit? I guess it''s not impossible, but..." Runar muttered, and Ryan let out a long sigh.


    "Listen, I don''t know either, and it''s not like the thoughts processes of spirits are particularly easy to comprehend, right? Maybe she just really favours the lake spirit, or maybe it''s a random whim of hers. It doesn''t really matter either. What''s more important is that the shadows are going around this city infecting spirits with corruption," Ryan walked past his uncle, pulling open the door, "If I hadn''t acted fast, everyone would have seen what was going on, and sooner or later, they would have realized that a spirit attacked them. It''s exactly what they want, right?"


    Panicking slightly, Runar looked at his nephew with a confused expression, "What are you doing?"


    "What I should have done from the very beginning," Ryan said, walking into the livingroom where his mother and Liam were currently sitting, "Mom, I''ve got to tell you something."


    "Ryan, don''t you dare..." Runar tried to stop him, but he didn''t care anymore.


    "Honey, what''s going on?" concerned, not sure if something was going on with her son, Mary looked at her son, and Runar quickly intervened.


    "Nothing, he''s just feeling a bit loopy from earlier, let''s just-"


    "Shut it. Mom, the ''Aglecard'' family that we''re a part of is actually that extremely powerful, rich Aglecard family. Runar is its current head. But that family is also-" though Ryan started speaking, he could see Runar write something in the air with runes. Before he could react, the runes were activated, and Mary was frozen, as if someone had pressed ''pause'' on her. Taken aback, Ryan turned his head toward his uncle, "What the fuck do you think you''re doing?"


    "No, what do you think you''re doing? Didn''t we agree on not telling your mother about all of this?"


    "Yes, we agreed, but now we don''t agree anymore. I have the right to tell her what''s going on, and you can''t stop me. Now unfreeze my mother before I clock you," with what was close to a snarl, Ryan stared at his uncle.


    Runar closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Liam, go to your room, please."


    The young vampire stood up and nodded his head. He looked at Ryan and Runar nervously, silently leaving the room. He lingered by the door for a while, just glancing in. Ryan could feel his heart drop into his stomach for acting that way in front of Liam.


    "Dude, just stop fighting it. I''m going to tell her, and you can''t do anything about it."


    "First of all, just slow down a second. What exactly are you going to tell her? You know that you will have to tell her everything, including things about your father, that she might not want to hear," Runar walked across the room, slowly pacing around. Thinking for a moment, Ryan nodded.


    "I know. But she also doesn''t deserve to not really know the person she married, right? Rather, it''s kind of shitty of me not to tell her. Plus, if things keep being this dangerous, then I want my mom to know what''s going on. I don''t want her to suddenly get a call and hear that I''m dead, being told some kind of lie that I... I don''t know, got in a car crash, or killed myself, or whatever shit you guys use for excuses."


    "I don''t know where this hostility is suddenly coming from, I thought we were all on the same page here..."


    Ryan groaned loudly, stretching out his left arm, "This is why! Yes, you guys... We are keeping people safe, sure. But at the same time, we''re basically trapping them. Still forcing them to hide even in the best case scenario. And in the worst case, keeping them trapped in a cave or some kind of tank," as he spoke, Ryan could feel Tiar slowly moving on his skin, "Especially with the symbiotes, can''t you do something else than just introduce random people to them? You''re not treating them like living beings that deserve to live, you''re treating them like... tools to exploit."


    "Okay, hold on, I don''t think that''s fair," with a scoff, Runar turned to his nephew, "You weren''t complaining when I told you that they could make you stronger."The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "You didn''t actually tell me shit before I met Tiar. You made it sound like we''d be picking out some kind of medicine, and not a living being that is now forever bonded to me. It is literally impossible to separate us now without at least one of us dying, do you understand how fucked up that is? And don''t get me wrong, I love Tiar, and I know they love me, but that doesn''t mean that you shouldn''t have just waited until I understood all of this a bit better," stepping up closer to his uncle, Ryan ground his teeth together, "But that''s not what all of this is about right now, anyway. While I don''t feel great about the way that the Aglecards do things, fact is... you''re the best option around right now, and I know you just want to help. But that doesn''t mean that this is a good world I found myself in. This is dangerous, and my mother deserves to know what she was unwillingly dragged into by my father."


    Runar tapped his foot on the ground. He grumbled slightly, and then snapped his finger. The runes freezing Mary in place were undone, and she looked up at Ryan, blinking confused. Ryan hadn''t moved much, but it was still different to what she could see a moment ago. And looking around, Runar was in a completely different place, and Liam was gone. A bit dizzy, Mary held her hand to her forehead, "Sorry, I think I''m feeling a bit light-headed... What were you saying?"


    "Mom," Ryan pulled up a chair and sat down in front of his mother, "My class isn''t a unique class. Dad was also a Spirit Keeper."


    With a slight laugh, Mary shook her head, "No, no, your father wasn''t an Awakened. He was just an accountant, that''s all."


    Ryan shook his head, "I mean before that. Before you even met him. Back then, he was supposed to be the next head of the Aglecard family."


    Not sure if she was understanding right, Mary looked over at Runar. She thought that Ryan was joking somehow, but seeing the two of them be so serious about it all, it was clear that she just had to listen for now.


    And so, Ryan explained the situation of things as far as he personally understood them. The reality of the Aglecard family, the species that are kept hidden from the general populace, the truth behind Ryan''s class, and most importantly, the history of Hayden, and the consequences of his actions.


    Mary listened silently, not sure what she was supposed to say, "I... Is this some kind of joke? A prank for one of those Loops?"


    With a long sigh, Ryan looked over at Runar. He had sat down on a chair and was watching everything, clearly nervous.


    "What?"


    "Do your thing, like, the rune stuff," Ryan said, and Runar rolled his eyes.


    "Fine, might as well just lay it all out," as he replied, Runar pulled his pen out of his jacket''s chest pocket. He looked around, and finally spotted one of Ryan''s figurines that he had moved into the living room to make space for all the new things he had to buy as practice. He picked it up and wrote a sequence of runes into the air in front of the model, and the small orcish warrior slowly woke up. Runar placed it onto the ground, and all three of them watched as the model walked around the room, swinging its plastic axes at the air. Mary was staring at it, utterly confused , "I''m a Rune Mage, and a powerful one at that. Listen, I never wanted to involve Ryan in all of this, but when he suddenly Awakened because of the spirit core in Hayden''s toolbox, I-"


    "Wait, wait, toolbox?" Mary interrupted Runar as she tried to follow along with the conversation, "What do you mean? The toolbox I sent Ryan?"


    Ryan and Runar looked at each other for a moment. Ryan nodded, "Yeah, I found Maximus'' core in there, and that''s how I awakened."


    "What does a spirit core look like again? Like... like a gemstone, right? There wasn''t anything like that in the box."


    "There definitely was, though..."


    "I cleaned the box and all the tools before sending it to you, I know for sure there wasn''t anything else in there," Mary explained, "Are you sure that''s where you found it?"


    Looking over at his uncle with a slight stare, Ryan tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Runar didn''t seem to understand all too well either, though.


    "Okay, uh... Runar, please, look into that, maybe... But more importantly, mom, does that mean you believe us now?"


    Mary thought for a few moments, placing her hand onto her cheek, "Well, not quite, it does all seem a little off to me... but it''s not as though I didn''t know your father had a secret or two."


    "... What?" Ryan narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean?"


    "Well, he''d always be a bit mysterious. It was part of his allure, you see? Of course I couldn''t have ever imagined something like this, but I figured he had a past," Mary explained, "He''d always get these mysterious-looking visitors."


    Runar jumped up and stepped around the couch, "Visitors? What kinds of visitors?"


    Mary thought about it for a moment, "They were usually different people, but... There was one that came regularly. I remember him because he came by a few days before Hayden passed, actually. His name was... Finnegan... something."


    "... White hair, almost glowing blue eyes?" Runar asked, and Mary raised her brows.


    "Yes, actually, now that you mention it. Is he involved in all of this as well?"


    Runar looked toward the hallway nervously, "Yes, and no, but... that''s not important. Ryan, show your mother the basement for a while, okay? I''ve got something I need to check on."


    Taken aback that Runar was practically pushing the two of them downstairs now, though he was so apprehensive to letting Mary learn about all this, Ryan slowly nodded, "Sure, I guess that might be a good way to explain things a bit more. It helped me, at least."


    Ryan stood up and walked toward the door, with his mother following behind curiously, "Well, what''s in the basement?"


    "It''s... kind of complicated. But it''s beautiful down there. There''s a lot I want to show you," Ryan explained, guiding his mother downstairs. Once he left, Runar immediately dropped onto the couch, snapping his finger to pull the magic back out of the animated plastic model. He quickly pulled out his phone and dialled a number.


    "Aye, boss. What can I do for ya?" Anders quickly answered, and Runar quickly wrote another rune into the air to block out the conversation from leaking out of the living room.


    "Get me a report on Finnegan Azure, right away."


    "Azure? I thought Liam was the last of the Azure clan," Anders replied, and Runar let out a long sigh.


    "Yes, he is, as far as we know at least. That''s exactly why I need to know why the Azure clan''s former patriarch visited my brother after he left the family."


    "... I''ll give ya that, every time ya call me, I hear somethin'' I don''t expect... I''ll look into it right away. Ah, though that reminds me. We made sure that all images taken of the corrupted spirit were deleted earlier. We''re still lookin'' into if there were some aquarian folk that saw or heard somethin'', but as far as we can tell, there''ll be no leaks of today," Anders explained, and Runar quickly breathed out a sigh of relief.


    "Alright, at least we''ve got some good news," Runar grumbled, "Oh, and get some people working on some kind of permit to let us visit Goria''s shrine."


    "Aye aye. Got any reason you want me to tell them?"


    "I guess just say that there''s someone on our side that got an invitation from her, though if they ask any questions, try to play dumb."


    "Hah, don''t worry, I can do that," Anders laughed loudly into the speaker, making Runar pull the phone away from his ear for a moment.


    "Right. Call me when you have an update for me on any of those things, and make sure that the watchers we have stationed around the city do their job well. Make sure they watch any and all known location-bound spirits. I don''t want something like today to happen again."

 110 - S.C.S.

    "Okay, so, am I understanding it right? That wardrobe you were trying to show me was actually an animal?" Mary whispered toward Ryan, who nodded with a smile on his face.


    "Yep, that was Kindly, he''s a mimic. Technically it wasn''t the wardrobe itself; Mimics live inside of objects. I don''t know why he was so shy yesterday, though, usually he''s pretty outgoing," Ryan explained with a slight laugh, "But then again, he''s only recently been around people again."


    "Oh, really? What happened?"


    "He was infected with corruption. I only cured him the other day, using the copper flowers."


    "The copper flowers that... were grown in the dungeon you went to, because a fragment of Gaia was in there?"


    "Right. I believe that the White Shadow Society tried to infect Gaia''s fragment as well, but she was able to fight against it while she was turning into a dungeon."


    Mary placed her hand onto her cheek in thought, trying to take it all in. Though in the end, she just let out a long sigh and shook her head, "I don''t think I fully understand, but it was lovely to meet all of them, anyway. Especially that cute little pixie. Penny, was it?"


    Sitting in the front of the car, on the passenger seat, Runar let out a long sigh, "Do you really have to discuss all of that right now? We''re nearly there," he pointed out. Ryan rolled his eyes in the seat behind him, glancing over to Yamada. He was pretty jealous that she didn''t have to hear Runar''s complaining the whole way to the Channel.


    "Well, why are you complaining?" Mary scoffed, slightly tapping Yamada''s shoulder from behind, "Your friend here hasn''t said anything about it, so it can''t be too bad, right?"


    Runar groaned, "It''s not like she knows about it anyway."


    Confused, Mary looked over at Ryan, who quickly explained, "Yamada is deaf, she didn''t hear anything we said the whole way".


    "Oh?" Mary widened her eyes surprised, leaning forward to get a better look at the demon while raising her voice and patting Yamada''s shoulder, "I''m sorry, honey, I didn''t know."


    Yamada glanced around a bit confused, not sure what to think. She looked at Ryan through the mirror, and he let out a slight sigh, "My mother apologized for not knowing you''re deaf," he explained, signing to her as much as he could. Yamada laughed slightly and shook her head, signing with one hand.


    "She''s saying not to worry about it," Ryan quickly translated as he pulled out his phone. His mother looked at him surprised.


    "You know sign language?"


    Ryan shrugged, "Yeah, a little bit, I guess. I study with this app on my phone, it''s pretty good for it."


    Before the conversation could continue, while Mary was still quite surprised to learn so many new things about her son, the car came to a halt. By now, the celebrations for the day of Kars already started. Kars, the spirit of technology, was celebrated by showing the big technological advancements that had been made in the past year. Basically, it was a massive science-fair. Kars'' day was also generally used by companies to launch new products and to advertise those new products to the masses, so it was no wonder that more than half the stalls belonged to established tech companies just trying to sell the newest, slightly changed, version of what they were showing off last year.


    However, there were a few exceptions to that. Taking advantage of the nature of Kars'' day, the Magic Tower tended to show some new research as well, even if it didn''t technically fall under the umbrella of ''Technology'' a lot of the time. New standard spells that could change the way we lived our everyday lives, old spells used in an innovative way or with improved efficiency, or the part that Ryan was most excited about; the new discoveries.


    While the Magic Tower had some of the flashiest things to show off during Kars'' day, a lot of the time, their new discoveries were just shown through boring presentations; theoretical situations presented in a way that seemed like they were the next big thing. Ryan figured that Modak''s presentation was going to be similar to that, but since it was his best friend showing off something he worked hard on, Ryan wanted to show his support the best way he could; by being extremely excited about something he understood nothing about.


    "I''ll get out here and try to find Modak already," Ryan said, tapping on his phone to text the orc, while Mary smiled at him broadly.


    "Alright, honey, we''ll catch up soon," she responded. Ryan quickly got out of the car and went on his way, while Mary turned toward Runar, staring at him intensely, "And you- You will explain to me everything about Hayden that I don''t know yet, right now."


    While Runar was getting ready to be grilled, Ryan made his way through the crowds of the Channel. He pushed past the random salesmen that tried to come up to him, skilfully ignoring them, and headed toward the area designated for the Magic Tower. Most of the stands looked pretty boring, with who Ryan assumed to be just other mages or professionals standing in front of them, but deeper in, you got to the part that people were most curious about.


    The practical displays. People were watching the butterflies made of light, and toy trains riding on floating tracks; things that caught the eye of almost anyone. But as Ryan continued walking, he got to the end of the row, and stood right next to a wall was a stand that wasn''t ready to go yet. Modak''s stand.


    Ryan pulled away the tarp and peeked inside, though he was quickly stopped by a large hand holding onto his collar from behind, "Sorry, that''s off-limits. We should finish setting up soon, though."


    The middle-aged cyclops looked at Ryan with an apologetic, kind smile, and he quickly shook his head, "Oh, no, I''m sorry, I''m just looking for Modak right now. He told me to meet him here?"


    The cyclops raised her brows, "In that case, I''ll call him right out. Just wait here for a second, okay?"


    "Yes, of course, no worries," Ryan quickly nodded and stepped to the side, as the cyclops walked into the small tent. Just a few moments later, Modak practically tore the tarp to the side and quickly pulled Ryan into the tent.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Perfect, you''re here!"


    Ryan looked at Modak nervously, "Is everything alright? Did something happen?" he glanced around and leaned toward the orc, whispering, "Is it the shadows doing some weird stuff again?"


    With a nervous scoff, Modak shook his head. His eyes were darting around the room nervously and his breathing was heavy, "No, no, it''s nothing like that, I''m just- I think I''m having a panic attack?"


    "Okay, shit, that''s not good, uhm..." Ryan pulled his bag from his back and quickly looked for something inside, soon pulling out a small notebook, "Silvia drew this last night. It''s just a sketch made with pencil, but it apparently still has a small effect."


    The page that Ryan was holding out was a drawing of a mountain with the morning sun''s rays shooting past the trees'' crowns. Just looking at it seemed to calm down Modak''s breathing as he closed his eyes, "That... really did help a little. I think," Modak let out a long breath as he continued to take in the magical calmness of the sketch in front of him, "Sorry, I''ve just been really nervous about making sure that everything works out later. We''ve been fine-tuning the last few things all morning, but I''m still not sure if it''s actually all perfect yet."


    With a scoff, Ryan pushed the notebook with the sketch onto Modak''s chest, "It doesn''t need to be perfect. You''ve been working on this for a few weeks, the fact you have something to show in the first place is an absolute miracle."


    "... The tech itself is really pretty simple," the orc pointed out.


    "If you can explain to me how it works and I understand it, I''ll give that one to you, but I honestly doubt it," Ryan placed a hand onto his friend''s shoulder, "Just do your best. What''s the worst that can go wrong?"


    Modak grimaced slightly, "I mean... A mass of toy bricks could be hurled at onlookers."


    Taking a step back with a confused expression, Ryan furrowed his brows, "Uh... What?"


    "How much did I tell you about what I''m working on?"


    "Not much at all, you''ve been sneaky about it the whole time."


    Modak rubbed his neck as he started thinking about how to best explain things, "So... Actually, let me just..." the orc turned around toward the cyclops that had stopped Ryan earlier, "Marge, is everything set up and ready to go?"


    The cyclops nodded her head and held a thumbs-up toward Modak, who quickly pushed Ryan toward the front of the tent, "Okay, great. Wait outside for a second, we''ll fold up the tent real quick."


    Curious, and more confused than ever, Ryan stepped out and waited in front of the tent. There were a few other people walking around, curious about what this still unveiled project was about. And then, a moment later, the tarps of the magical tent rolled up with a snapping sound. The bars holding the whole thing up folded down, and the tent that was keeping the whole project covered quickly disappeared into a wooden box. And what was visible there instead were a number of speakers lined up in a semi-circle in front of a large cube made entirely of small plastic bricks.


    In front of Ryan was a tablet on a small stand, displaying a playlist. Each song was titled something like Castle, Plane, Robot, or the like. Different things that you would usually build from these kinds of bricks.


    "Alright, so... While we have been graciously given a spot for a final showcase later on at the central stage, for now, we would like the visitors of the fair to experience the basics first-hand," Modak explained, smiling anxiously. He was clutching the notebook that Ryan had given to him earlier tightly, "I think, without further ado, just... play one of the songs that catches your eye."


    Not having to be told twice, Ryan looked through the songs. In the end, he picked the ''Robot'' song, and before he knew it, the speakers started up with a rhythmic pattern that sounded a lot like the beeps and bops that Ryan instinctively connected with something like a server or control room. Something sci-fi.


    He watched as the cube of bricks was slowly pulled apart, piece by piece. The small plastic bricks sorted themselves, and as Ryan looked over to Modak confused, he just saw the orc grow more anxious as more parts of the song came in. The bricks quickly flew around the area encircled by the speakers, constructing a robot as tall as the cyclops standing next to Modak. As the song continued, the bricks repositioned themselves, making the robot take on different poses while doing different basic movements that reminded Ryan of what you would see from cartoons or comics.


    By the time the electronic song ended, the bricks had rearranged themselves back into that cube from before. And, Ryan noticed a crowd that had formed behind him, that were curiously trying to see what was going on.


    Modak cleared his throat as he was pushed forward by Marge and began to speak to the crowd, "Our project is, the, uhm... Synthetic Chant System, or SCS in short. Reminiscent of the instrument-based magic of bardic mages, we use the rhythmic nature of music to cast a precise levitation spell," Modak explained, looking over to Marge, who just had the biggest, excited grin on her face, "However, what is to note is that the source does not come from a magic user. I created all the tracks you will hear here today by myself, on simple computer software. The music is then written on a crystal tape as a mana wavelength, which is then again split off the tape and transformed into the final spell you see in front of you."


    Slowly but surely, the people in the crowd began to understand what Modak was trying to say. Some of them even seemed to be mages of the Magic Tower themselves, and were just staring at him in disbelief, as Modak finished the introduction to his project, "Using this system as a base, I believe it is possible to create a myriad of new ways to cast spells; ways that even regular people can use. I myself have a disorder where my body rejects all mana, and yet I was able to create this. Right now, it is only used to play with toy bricks, but imagine if you could use any spells that have been almost impossible to reproduce through technology, just with a press of a button. If you allow me to be so blunt..." Modak took a long, deep breath, "I believe that this is the way that we can put true magic into the hands of every single person in this world."


    Ryan just stared at his friend as the crowd behind him began to clap impressed. He stepped to the side, letting the next person approach the tablet. While Ryan was still just silent, someone played the ''Castle'' song, and a medieval melody started to play as the bricks rearranged themselves into the form of a castle, with small toy figures walking around inside of it, making it lively and exciting. Particularly kids were quickly crowding around, dragging their parents along. And before anyone knew it, this stall had drawn the largest crowd in the area. Even people from other stalls abandoned their post to come take a look, discussing what they were seeing and the impact that this could have.


    "Modak..." Ryan stared at his friend, though Modak seemed nothing but relieved right now. He was sitting down on a chair at the side of his lot and was laughing nervously.


    "That went better than I thought," he said with a broad smile, proudly showing off his tusks, "What do you think?"


    "What do I- Dude, you figured out how to synthesize magic! What do you think I think?!"


    "I guess that means you think it''s pretty cool?"


    Ryan let out a loud laugh and held out his hand. Modak, his smile still not letting up, took the hand and stood up, as Ryan congratulated his friend, "You''ve done something absolutely crazy just there, man."


    Modak laughed as he felt Ryan''s encouraging voice, "Thanks. I just hope that the tower''s mages think the same. I know that Alicia liked the idea, otherwise she wouldn''t have given me a spot during the main event later, but you never know what kind of complaints those old farts could have."


    The orc glanced back nervously at Marge, who chuckled lightly, "Don''t worry, I won''t tell anyone you said that."


    "Either way, man, I can''t believe you were able to do something like that," Ryan pointed out, looking over to the bricks that were still actively re-arranging themselves, "You''ll be able to do so much good with this technology."

 111 - Special

    "What''s going on over here?" an exhausted Runar, who had just gotten a stern talking-to from Mary, pushed his way through the crowd of people in front of him. Mary was following closely behind, though her eyes were curiously landing on all the other nearby stalls as well. Since everyone was standing around a particular lot, everything else was free and you had a good view of whatever they were trying to present. Though, even the people manning those stalls seemed curious about what everyone was looking at.


    Before long, after pushing further through the crowd, Runar and Mary at least managed to hear what was happening. A seafarer''s tune was being played, and people were loudly exclaiming their amusement and joy at what they were witnessing.


    With a click of his tongue, Runar pushed his hand under his jacket and wrote a rune with his finger. A piece of paper fell down onto the ground, quickly taking the form of a small mouse that was rushing through the crowd, dodging past their feet. The paper mouse perked up its head once it got to the front, and through its ''eyes'', Runar was able to see the plastic bricks in the form of a ship floating on waves of even more plastic bricks. Immediately, Runar was trying to figure out what exactly it was about this that excited everyone so much. It seemed to be just some kind of simple auditory telekinesis spell, nothing more. Of course, there were some unique parts about it, but it wasn''t anything all too special. At least, it wasn''t special enough to justify a crowd like this.


    While Runar was trying to analyse the system through the eyes of the paper mouse, he noticed that the small familiar was suddenly picked up off the ground. Ryan had picked it up and was staring at it, "Just come through to the front instead of doing stuff like this, Modak can explain how it works if you want to know."


    Taken aback, Runar tried to peek over the heads of the people in front of him, soon seeing Ryan standing there and looking over toward him. By squeezing past the side, Runar and Mary were soon able to get into the lot, where they could not only see the magic from up close, but could even hear how it worked directly from Modak.


    "So, you made this?" Runar asked, cupping his chin curiously, "I guess this was the project you mentioned to me about storing auditory magic?"


    The orc smiled lightly and shook his head. Because of the overwhelmingly positive response, all of the stress that he felt earlier just melted away at least temporarily, "No, this is completely synthesized magic."


    Runar closed his eyes and laughed for a few moments, "Synthetic magic, sure, good one."


    Ryan threw the paper mouse back over to his uncle, "He''s telling the truth, you know? It''s not storing anything."


    Stopping in his track, Runar opened his eyes again, looking at the orc with a suspicious frown, "Are you serious? That''s not possible, you need the mechanics and control of a physical body to be able to do something like that," he pointed out, completely trying to deny Modak''s claim, "I guess it''s possible to get results that are similar to that of certain spells through magical engineering, but this isn''t that. A regular spell is being cast through bardic magic."


    Hearing how critical Runar was, Mary hit him on the arm, "Oh, what do you know? Stop being so bothersome."


    Ryan grinned, "I know he looks like a good for nothing, but Runar was actually a ''prodigy'' that entered the Magic Tower at... what was it, fifteen?"


    Narrowing his eyes, Runar looked back at his nephew, "Fourteen, actually."


    Modak looked at Ryan nervously, glancing over at Mary in the process, "Erm... does your mother..?"


    "Oh, yeah, don''t worry, I told her last night. She doesn''t know everything, but we''ll fill the rest in when it comes up," Ryan explained, turning back toward his mother, "So yeah, Runar actually does know quite a lot about magic."


    "Yes, which, again, means that I know for a fact it''s not possible to synthesize magic. Because of the nature of rune magic, which is able to be expressed even by people with little magic if they know exactly what to do, I studied this sort of process while preparing for even my First Circle thesis," Runar crossed his arms, glancing over at the machines, "So what are you doing to make this happen, then? Are you using a technomancer''s mana as a conduit?"


    Modak frowned lightly, "Are you accusing me of fabricating all of this right now? I''ll have you know that this is all genuine. You can check the mana batteries that we''re using, they''re the standard purified mana containers that are standard for any magical engineering process."


    "Fine, then convince me. How does this whole thing work?"


    The orc let out a long groan, "Fine. To simplify the process... I altered the original code that translated soundwaves into mana waves to instead give it a three-dimensional pattern that''s adjusted to the thickness of the mana tape I''m using, to account for the multidimensionality of spell circuitry. That pattern is then placed onto that mana tape through an extremely high-frequency mana emitter, which I altered to imbue the more malleable qualities of aura into the mana in the process. The mana is then released from the tape and translated back into soundwaves within the speakers, and in the process are imbued with the corrected mana patterns, which, due to the effects of the infused aura qualities are able to perfectly fuse into the physical sound vibrations."


    Runar, whose face was smug when Modak started talking, continued to drop more and more as he listened, "That''s... all? That sounds so simple, but..." his foot began to tap on the ground, "... it could actually work if... and also if... No but in that case you would need..."


    "If you want, I can show you the papers that I wrote. All the data," Modak said, crossing his arms, and Runar immediately nodded his head.


    "Please do, because if you can actually mechanically manipulate mana in this way, then..." Runar grinned lightly, "Our family found itself a true prodigy."


    The two went off to a table in the back, where Modak quickly went to show Runar all the documents, leaving Ryan and his mother alone again. Mary was just staring at Runar, confused.


    "So... he worked for the Magic Tower?"


    Ryan shrugged, "I don''t know about ''worked for''. I think it''s a bit more complicated than that. The Aglecard family and the Magic Tower apparently have a cooperative relationship, but I doubt they''d let the head of one become a direct part of the other. That would sort of skew the power balance. Or something."


    "... Are the Aglecards actually that powerful?"


    "I guess so, yeah. There''s... a lot of stuff going on that I don''t really understand quite well yet either, but just know that the family has their hands in basically... everything," Ryan tried to explain, though he knew that it definitely wouldn''t help Mary really understand. But since Ryan himself had no real idea of how far the Aglecards'' influence stretched, there really was no way for him to properly explain it to his mother either.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    A few hours later, Ryan, his mother, and Runar headed back out to take a look at the rest of the stalls. The crowd that had gathered in front of the lot was still massive, but had calmed down at least a little bit. Modak was taking a break, sitting on a chair in the back of the lot. Dozens of mages of the tower had come by to question him about what he had done and how this process worked, and he had shot all of them down. Sure, he told Runar, but it was easier to trust him not to misuse or steal that technology than it was to trust the mages currently working at the tower.


    Either way, the biggest challenge was yet to come. Modak nervously checked his phone, biting his nails. He was suddenly so nervous that even Marge noticed.


    "What''s going on? Everything is going well here, so what''s with that face?" she asked, and Modak let out an awkward laugh.


    "I, well... My parents and siblings are coming by soon, and... I just don''t know what they''re going to think," Modak rubbed his neck nervously, "My dad is honestly not a huge fan of magic. You know, just that old orcish mindset, I guess."


    "Don''t worry, I understand. Historically, cyclopes haven''t been the most pro-magic either. When my parents learned that I was interested in magic engineering of all things, they weren''t all too happy about it. But at the end of the day, they understood. They saw my love and passion for it, and came through," Marge explained, placing her large hand onto the orc''s shoulder, "I''m sure if you show them that this is what you love, they will get it. Plus, my kids are coming through soon as well, and I can''t have my boss be so mopey, now can I?" the cyclops slightly laughed, and Modak slowly nodded. He stood up from the chair and straightened the tie to the suit he was wearing.


    "You''re right. I''ll just show them everything and try to make sure they know that I really care about this," Modak smiled lightly, and almost the moment he said so, he spotted a small group approaching. At the front stood his mother and father together, looking around like fish out of water. Behind them were Modak''s siblings, as well as Liam. Liam and the twins had become friends at school, and the twins invited Liam to join them for the day, apparently.


    Nervous, Modak stepped up toward them, forcing a smile onto his face, "Mom, dad! I''m so happy you could come! Let me-"


    "What are you wearing?" Modak''s father looked him up and down with a slight scoff, "Why would you be wearing a suit? Did someone die?"


    "... I''m just trying to look presentable, okay?" Modak tried not to drop his smile, even when he noticed his mother just roll her eyes at his father''s question.


    "So what are you doing here, sweetheart? Are you selling something? Some kind of food?" his mother wondered, looking around, "Do we order through this tablet, or do we tell you?"


    "Order? M-Mom, no, I told you guys about this, I''m presenting the project I''ve been working on for the Magic Tower."


    "Honey, I''m sorry, but I thought you were joking... I mean, you don''t even have mana, so how could you be working for the magic tower? Do you see how that''s a bit confusing?"


    Modak closed his eyes and took some deep breaths, "Yes, sure. But again, as you see, I''m in the Magic Tower''s area, so... yeah, I work for them. I can show you the rest of the proof later," Modak explained, forcing his smile to stay on his face. Soon, his older sister came up to the table.


    "So, what''s all this about?" Kora asked, "You built... speakers?"


    Since his sister was taking over a little, Modak suppressed a sigh of relief, "Right, sort of. So, do any of you remember me working on those small mana cassettes? I''ve been working on them for a while, so I''m sure I brought it up at least once. Anyway, using that as a base, I was first scouted by Miss Boreard to create a method to store auditory magic. Basically... chants, or bardic magic, all that kind of stuff. But as I was working on that, I realized the opportunity for something else. I figured out how to... make magic from nothing. Basically, spellcasting without a caster. And this is the first part of my presentation."


    As Modak explained, he could tell that his siblings, as well as Liam, seemed pretty curious, though his parents were confused. Rather, they were close to suspicious.


    "Without a caster? How is that supposed to work? What''s next, cars without a driver?" Modak''s father scoffed, shaking his head.


    Modak frowned lightly, "Uh... you know, self-driving cars are a thing, but that''s beside the point. It''s still being controlled by someone, like, I created all the tracks that define the magic signature. But rather than the mana being transformed and altered through a person, it''s done through machines."


    As he was talking, he notices Liam walking over to the tablet, tapping a particular one of the songs displayed on it. Medieval music started to play as the bricks started rearranging themselves, and the young vampire stared at the view in front of him excitedly.


    "Whoa!" the twins said in unison.


    Pock, one of Modak''s brothers, snapped a few pictures, "You made this happen? That''s pretty cool."


    The forced smile on Modak''s face slowly grew more genuine, "Thanks, I appreciate it. Yeah, I''m trying to figure out other ways to cast spells mechanically. Right now I''m working on a proposal for a way to construct synthetic magic circles, though I''ll have to work on my First Circle thesis before then... this whole thing is kind of a stepping stone, so-"


    "First circle? What are you talking about?" his father asked with a frown.


    "You know... First Circle. To become an official ''Wizard'' of the tower. Then Second Circle, Third Circle, and so on," Modak explained, and his father groaned.


    "I know that, son, but why are you talking about becoming a Wizard? You''re a mechanic! An engineer!"


    "... A magic engineer, dad. I would actually be one of the first magic engineers to become an official Wizard if things go well. And well, Miss Boreard is the sponsor of the project and agreed to being my mentor for the thesis, so it looks like that''s going to go well..."


    "And who is this ''Miss Boreard'' that you keep talking about?" Modak''s mother asked, shaking her head, "What is she thinking, putting ideas like that into your head. I don''t know what kind of tricks you''re playing here, but you''re not a wizard, Modak. You''re an orc, a true orc!"


    Immediately, Modak''s facade dropped, "What are you even talking about? I''ve always wanted this. And now that I finally get there, you start acting like this?"


    Modak''s parents looked at each other for a moment, and then back over to their son. His father stretched out his hand, placing it onto Modak''s arm, "Son, we... just never thought you would get to this point. Your very being rejects mana... magic. We figured you would burn yourself out on this game sooner or later, so-"


    "Game? What the hell are you even talking about? Does this look like a game to you?" Modak asked, pointing at the castle currently being constructed out of the plastic bricks. His mother sighed lightly.


    "Truthfully? It does just look like you''re playing with some toys, son. Please, just stop with this nonsense and forget about being a ''Wizard''. Your father needs your help in the garage, so-"


    Modak laughed in disbelief, "Are you kidding me? Do you know how hard I worked for this? For you two, for them-" Modak pointed at his younger siblings, "And all you can do is try and tear me down again? By all the fucking gods, could you really be any more selfish?"


    "Selfish? How dare you! Do you know what we sacrificed to raise you and your brothers?" Modak''s father raised his voice, slamming his hand onto the table in front of him. The people in the crowd behind them started to listen in on the conversation, because of course they did.


    "That doesn''t give you the right to try and decide what''s the right thing for me and my life."


    Modak''s mother shook her head annoyedly, "We better talk to that Boreard lady. If she thinks she can brainwash you into abandoning us, then she''s never met an orc mama."


    "No- Mom, please, you can''t do that, she''s-"


    "What, some fancy schmancy magic lady? So what! If she won''t let you come back with us, then-"


    "I just told you that this is what I want!" Modak followed after his mother as she pushed her way through the crowd, as if trying to search for ''Miss Boreard'', "Just calm down and listen to what I''m telling you! I want to keep working at the Magic Tower! Do you even know how monumental this discovery is? Dozens of mages came up to me today to congratulate me! People that treated me like dirt, like less than a person just because I don''t have mana! Even they can see that this is special, that I am doing something special, so why can''t you?"


    Modak''s mother stared him in the eye, scoffing, "Orc blood is wasted on you."


    Stopping in his track, Modak looked at the back of his mother, disappearing in the crowd, "... If that''s what you think, then... I..." he stood there, quietly. He didn''t know what to do; his mind had practically just burnt out. He could see his father push past him silently, just looking at him with the same kind of disdain that his mother did.


    Soon, Modak managed to get himself to turn around and walk back to the lot. And there, he at least had some people waiting for him. With his older sister holding him, Modak stepped into the back of the lot, just reeling in what just happened.

 112 - Restricted

    Ryan turned around as he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. In front of him, Yanna was glancing around at different stalls and lots, "Hey, Ryan, how''s it going? Sorry, but have you seen Modak?"


    "Modak?" surprised, Ryan looked over in the direction of his friend''s stall. It was a bit out of the way but it really wasn''t hard to find at all, especially with the massive crowd in front of it that was drawing in more and more attention, "Isn''t he at his lot? You know, at the very back to the left over there."


    Yanna immediately shook her head, looking more and more concerned, "No, I was supposed to meet him there, but his co-worker told me that he just walked off... apparently he had a fight with his parents?"


    "With his-" Ryan''s eyes widened, before he let out a loud groan, "Yeah, alright, he told me he was nervous about how his parents were going to react. They''re not the biggest fans of magic."


    "Oh... I didn''t..." taken aback, the minotaur pulled her hand to her chest. She seemed surprised that she didn''t know about this.


    However, she didn''t have much time to get lost in thought, as Ryan quickly tapped her arm, "I think I see his sister over there. The one with red highlights in her hair."


    "Are you sure? Where?" Yanna asked, looking around nervously. Realizing that the minotaur was pretty frazzled, Ryan turned toward his mother and briefly excused himself. Pushing through the crowd, Ryan soon reached Kora.


    "Yo," he said with a slight wave, shooting a smile and a wink over to Liam. Though, to Ryan''s surprise, everyone seemed to be in a quite sour mood, "Everything alright here?"


    "Oh, uh... Ryan, right? Have you seen my brother?" Kora asked nervously. She was looking around just as much as Yanna was, though she seemed much more anxious than the minotaur. Ryan looked back at Yanna, whose worry only grew at that.


    "No, we haven''t. Yanna has been looking for him too, and I thought maybe you knew... but I guess not," Ryan sighed, running his hand through his hair while trying to think, "What happened earlier? Did Modak say anything before he left?"


    Kora immediately shook her head, "No, he was just really freaking out... Hyperventilating... all that. I''m really worried about him..."


    "Oh gods..." Yanna nervously pulled out her phone to give texting Modak one more shot. Ryan was thinking intensely as well, when an idea popped into his mind. Knowing Modak, he probably had the ''coin'' with him that acted as proof that he was Ryan''s aide. And knowing Runar... that coin was more than just a piece of metal.


    "You guys wait here, I think I have a way to find him. Just... enjoy your day for a bit, maybe get to know each other. You haven''t met yet, right?" Ryan suggested, and Yanna flinched as she glanced past her phone. It really was the first time she had met Modak''s siblings. Their home was a bit too small for Yanna, having been constructed for orcs, so she hadn''t come to visit yet beyond dropping Modak off in front of the building.


    "Right, sorry! I''m Yanna, it''s really nice to meet you!" scrambling to introduce herself and make a good first impression, the minotaur pushed her phone back into her pocket before stretching out her hand toward the orc in front of her.


    Kora smiled lightly, shaking Yanna''s hand, as Ryan turned back around. He quickly made his way back to his mother and uncle, whispering to Runar, "Do the coins you gave Modak and Silvia have a tracking function?"


    Runar pulled back surprised, looking at Ryan with a slight frown, "How do you..? No, you know what, nevermind, I''ll just stop getting surprised. Yes, they do. Why? What happened?"


    "Just find Modak for me. Something happened and he ran off. We don''t know where he is," Ryan explained. His uncle looked at him with a slight scoff.


    "That''s highly unethical, you know? The tracking spells are on there for emergencies."


    Staring into his uncle''s eyes without another word, Ryan simply kept waiting. Runar rolled his eyes, "Fine. I''ll just reuse the familiar I made before. It still has enough mana left in it for that, as long as Modak isn''t too far away. But if he''s in the Channel... it should be fine."


    Runar pushed his hand into his pocket, pulling out the paper mouse and then grabbed his pen from his inner jacket pocket. He quickly wrote a few runes onto the head and body of the paper mouse and then handed it over to Ryan.


    "There you go. It should be able to find its way now. But be careful to retrieve it when you''re done, I don''t want some other mage picking it up."


    Though Ryan didn''t know why it mattered if another mage saw these runes, considering that they didn''t seem to be any particularly unique ones, he was also aware that most magic users were pretty protective over their work. That being the case, Ryan squatted down and placed the mouse onto the ground. Though Ryan was already standing at the edge of the path, the paper mouse immediately started running further off the path into one of the nearby alleys.


    He didn''t know why Modak would have gone in that direction, but if there was one thing that Ryan felt like he could trust about his uncle, then that was how skilled he actually was. If he said that this mouse was going to lead him to Modak, or rather the coin that he was carrying with him, then Ryan just had to trust that.


    Leaving behind the main event of the day, Ryan followed the mouse through the Channel''s side roads. This was the first time he saw this part of town like that. Usually, the Channel was practically pristine, like someone had scrubbed it all down just that morning. Though, that was probably because high-tech street cleaners basically did that every other day. As if to make sure that the rich and powerful never had to get dirty or bother with picking up after themselves, cleaning magic was used to take care of most parts of the channel that people frequented every day. Meanwhile, if you stepped just a few metres off of the main paths, that reality changed almost completely.


    There was dirt and grime everywhere. It was almost worse than in many other parts of New Riverside, to the point where Ryan wanted to pick up the paper mouse and carry it around to stop it from getting dirty. Not because he was worried it would stop working, but rather because he felt bad for it.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Ryan jogged for almost ten minutes until he found a trace of Modak. His suit jacket was thrown onto the ground near some police tape that was blocking off people from entering beyond this. Ryan somehow hadn''t realized that they were this close to the area that was destroyed a few weeks ago. He climbed through the police tape to continue following the mouse, soon spotting a certain orc sitting on a bench not too far away.


    Modak had his face in his hands and was clearly very overwhelmed by something, though Ryan had no idea what. Carefully, he approached, picking up the mouse to stop it from startling his friend.


    "Yo," Ryan said as he walked over the road. At least this part of town was quiet enough to allow for a private conversation. Flinching out of surprise, not having expected someone to find him here, Modak turned around. But when he saw that it was Ryan trying to talk to him, he calmed down a bit. At least for a moment, because he quickly turned away to try and hide his face. And Ryan could tell why. He had clearly been crying.


    "Hey..." Modak slowly got out, "How''d you find me?"


    "It was an emergency, so don''t be mad, but... the coins have a tracking marker, and Runar helped me find you," Ryan explained as he dropped down on the bench next to his friend. He purposefully didn''t look over toward Modak, since he clearly didn''t want someone else to see him cry. Ryan understood that pretty well.


    "Oh... That feels a bit... Well, invasive," Modak pointed out. He was fidgeting with the sketch that Ryan had given him earlier that was supposed to help him calm down, "So what''s the emergency?"


    Ryan scoffed quietly, "Dude, you are. You suddenly disappeared, and both Kora and Yanna were looking for you."


    A gasp of realization came from the young orc, "Oh gods, I forgot that Yanna was coming... Ah, fuck..." he practically slammed his back into the bench''s backrest while his fingers dug into the paper to the point where he was almost tearing it.


    "It''s fine, she''s not mad or anything, she''s just worried."


    The two young men were sitting there quietly. While they were pretty open when it came to their emotions, it was still hard to bring up clearly tough topics like this. Modak didn''t want to pull Ryan into his business, while Ryan didn''t want to push Modak to talk about something he wasn''t ready to talk about. They sat there for a minute or two, just in silence, before Modak quietly spoke up.


    "... How is your family about... magic?" he started, "Outside of the Aglecard family, obviously."


    "Well, it''s not like I really know that family beyond Runar. And, you know... my grandparents on my mom''s side aren''t necessarily super comfortable with magic, but they know that it''s not as dangerous as it used to be."


    "I... don''t know what to do. I''ve tried so, so many times to explain to my parents that magic is fine, and that a little bit of mana is flowing through basically every tech these days. They''re happy to ignore the signal-boosting influence of magic in their phones and the internet, but whenever I try to talk to them about any of my projects, they''re just... mad. They basically hate me for actually going into a magic-related job. They''ve always known how much I love magic and all the concepts and ideas behind it, but at that point it was probably easy to just play it off as a kid''s fantasies."


    As Modak started talking, he basically wasn''t able to stop anymore. Now that he started airing it all out, it was like a dam had finally been broken. It all just flowed out, and he wasn''t able to stop himself anymore.


    The way he felt like his parents always looked at him with some level of contempt whenever he spoke about magic, to how they clicked their tongues or rolled their eyes whenever he brought up one of his new projects. But it didn''t even stop there; Modak even complained about the way that they acted outside of magic. About how his father let himself be pushed around by people at work, about how his mother was clearly clocked out of the marriage already, spending all her time with her ''best friend''. Modak got especially mad when he started talking about how they acted toward Kora, again and again disrespecting who she truly was, calling her by her deadname, even though she had been his older sister for more than half a decade already.


    "And then, they dare to tell me that I don''t deserve to have orc blood flowing through my veins?!"


    Ryan could basically hear Modak''s teeth grinding against each other as he forced out his words. It was to the point where Ryan took a few moments to actually register what his friend had just said.


    "Wait, what? They told you that?"


    For the first time since Modak has been ranting about his parents, Ryan looked over at him. He had been just looking forward at the building across the road, pretending that he hadn''t noticed Modak''s tears. But at this point, he couldn''t do that any longer.


    Modak slowly nodded, "Yeah... I guess telling them that I want to become an official ''Wizard'' was just a bit too much."


    "Okay, wait," once again, Ryan was taken aback, though for a whole other reason, "There''s a lot of info here, but... you magic engineers can become Wizards?"


    Modak smiled lightly, "I could be one of the first, I guess. There''s been a few mages that dabbled in engineering, but nobody that''s been, like... mainly a magic engineer. And there''s definitely not been a wizard without any mana to speak of. I won''t be able to get up there to something ridiculous like fifth or sixth circle, but just being a first circle wizard...? Ryan, that''s been my dream since I first heard about it. And my parents just..."


    Ryan sat there, looking at his best friend. He had no idea what to say, or how to help Modak through this. But in the end, rather than saying something wrong, Ryan chose to just say nothing at all. He placed his hand onto Modak''s shoulder. He wanted to show Modak that he was there for him, and that he could just let it all out without worry.


    Modak began to cry. Not just through the singular tears that were streaming down his cheeks every once in a while, but he started completely sobbing.


    He was the sort to try and rationalize things. By explaining the thoughts and reasons behind others'' actions, Modak found some comfort in the fact that things were not done just randomly out of pure emotion or gut. That he wasn''t hurt intentionally. And Ryan couldn''t offer him that sort of rationalization. He was more emotional, more raw. So the only thing he was able to do was be there for his friend while he was suffering.


    It took around ten more minutes until Modak fully calmed down and was able to collect his thoughts well enough, "I should... find my own place," he finally said, "Maybe some distance wouldn''t be bad. Maybe I could make a safe space for my brothers and Kora. I mean... I can definitely afford it now."


    Ryan laughed slightly, "Want to just get a place together? I''ve also been thinking about putting some space between me and Runar. Plus, that way we could just get the Aglecards to pay for the whole thing."


    Modak thought about it for a moment, just shrugging in the end, "Honestly, why not? Let''s do it," he replied as a smile formed on his face, "But for now, I guess I should get back. The final presentation is starting soon."


    "Right, but be sure to text Yanna and Kora first. They were really, really worried. I told them that I found you, but not much else."


    "I''ll do that," Modak nodded, lightly stretching as he stood up, "Do you remember the way back? I just kind of walked without thinking."


    "Yeah, I can guide us back," Ryan nodded, patting his friend on the back while starting to lead the way. Modak smiled.


    "Thanks, by the way."


    "Nah, don''t worry about it. I gotchu," with a grin, Ryan held his fist toward Modak, who quickly returned a quick fist-bump as the two of them walked out of the restricted area of the Channel. Though, a they were walking, Ryan''s phone started to buzz. There was a message from Runar that he didn''t quite expect, especially not so soon.


    <hr>


    <blockquote>


    Unc


    We have permission for you to visit Goria''s shrine, but it has to happen today. Come back quickly


    </blockquote>

 113 - Technology

    Modak took a deep, long breath, fiddling with his tie. Luckily, he was able to get someone to clean his jacket for him with magic. He looked at the crumpled piece of paper in his hand. By this point, he had probably damaged it so much that the magical calming effects imbued onto it by Silvia were useless. Even so, it helped to calm him down. It was a way for Silvia to be here without being here in person.


    Yesterday''s events had apparently given her a concussion, and her parents practically begged her to stay home and rest for the day. She was texting Modak practically the whole time, though, asking for updates and encouraging him. But now, Ryan was also gone. He had gotten an opportunity that might not come again; one with massively important consequences. Ryan had told Modak that he would stay and support him during the speech, but Modak didn''t want to carry the weight of taking away this opportunity from Ryan. Not to mention, he still had other people here to support him. His girlfriend and his siblings were here to uplift him, and he even had the support of Alicia Boreard.


    She was standing at the side of the stage, where Modak was about to enter from, and looked at him with a smile, "Are you ready, young man?"


    The orc slowly nodded his head, "I-I think so, yes."


    Alicia glanced down at the piece of paper that Modak was holding, "Is that your speech? Quite nervous, are we?"


    Modak quickly shook his head, folding the piece of paper and putting it into his pocket, "No, no, this is just something that Silvia made. I memorized my speech... when I''m nervous, it gets kind of hard to focus on words super easily, so just remembering them is weirdly easier."


    "It''s not weird at all, everyone has their own ways of dealing with these matters."


    Taking some deep breaths, Modak tried to prepare himself, waiting for his cue. But another thought popped into his head, something that he had been wondering for a while now. The issue was just that he hadn''t seen Alicia since she first hired him, so he hadn''t been able to ask her this.


    "I... I wanted to ask, but why did you give me this opportunity? I know that the mana tapes were a pretty fun thing, but I never understood how that was enough to make me the lead of my own team... I would have thought I would be basically an intern at the tower. But you gave me so much, I don''t know if..."


    Alicia chuckled slightly, looking at the orc''s face. He was avoiding looking at her, his eyes darting around the area nervously, "Do you even know what it is that you have accomplished? In just a few weeks, at that. You have done something that others never even attempted. And that is exactly why I gave you that opportunity, because I knew that you could do something special with the powers you were given. That you could become a wizard like none other."


    "But... I don''t even have any mana. Do you think I can really become a wizard? I will never be able to cast a spell myself, so do I really deserve that?"


    Though Modak was clearly anxious, asking something that he had been so scared about for weeks now, Alicia simply began to laugh. It was a true, heartfelt laugh, as if she had just heard something ridiculous, "Who ever said that being a wizard, let alone a mage, was about casting spells or possessing something as feeble as mana."


    "... Most definitions you can look up online, I guess?"


    "Oh, do not worry about such things, who would ever listen to what the internet has to say?" Alicia pointed out with a soft, encouraging smile, "What being a wizard is truly about is to be a seeker of truth. To understand the world around you, and to try and grasp at the knowledge before you, no matter the obstacles in your way. And you, Modak Stonebreaker, have been given an obstacle like none other. Don''t you think that such a seemingly insurmountable wall has to hide similarly grand secrets on its other side?"


    Modak could feel his heart almost beat out of his chest. The one in front of him was one of the most powerful magic user in the world, the one who arguably had the deepest understanding of the true essence of magic, and she was encouraging Modak. She was telling him that his lack of mana didn''t make him any lesser. It was the complete opposite to how he had been treated by other mages in the tower.


    "I..." he began, but he was quickly interrupted. Alicia took a step toward Modak, grabbing his tie. It seemed like his hands were so shaky that he wasn''t able to tie it properly, so Alicia was doing it for him, so that he would be presentable in front of the crowd.


    "No matter what anyone else seems to tell you, you were born for great, great things, and I ensure you that this is a fact. You were born to lead this world on its path toward new discoveries. A bridge between the mundane and the magical. A man, whose very existence is rejected by magic, grasped it within his clutches, making it his own. Be proud of that achievement. It will be the first of many."


    Feeling a sort of invigoration that he hasn''t felt in a long time, Modak nodded his head. With a smile on his face, so much more genuine that he thought he would be able to present, Modak stepped out onto the stage as he heard his name be called. Microphones were set up around the stage, and cameras were pointed in his direction. He could see Yanna standing in the crowd, and next to her was his sister. They were both looking at him with a pride that he couldn''t believe others could ever feel for him.


    But they weren''t the only people there that his eyes soon landed on. Modak thought they would have left by now, but his parents were standing just a few rows in front of Yanna and Kora. They clearly weren''t happy with the choices that he made, but they were still here. Maybe he really just had to sit down with them and explain things to them properly. He could find out where their disdain for magic came from, and then he could explain to them what magic really meant to him. Why it was such a special thing to Modak. And this was the first step to that.


    Modak stepped up to the podium, starting to speak. He cleared his throat, and glanced over toward Alicia. The words of his speech popped up into his mind, but somehow, he rather wanted to improvise.


    "My name is Modak Stonebreaker. I was born with Magic Rejection Disorder, and a particularly strong form of it. My body cannot hold magic, and it actually forces any traces of it out almost as soon as it is within me," Modak started his speech. What Alicia said made him realize the true importance of this tool that he created. He had said it before, but it was mostly empty words. The fact that someone without the ability to use magic now had the opportunity to could truly change lives.


    <hr>


    Mechanical whirrs and wisps of magic fluttered around. In front of them was a small figure, maybe two feet tall. It took the form of a man in a suit, with a book for a head. Beside it were two other similar figures, one with a microscope as its head, and one with a television set as its head. The three were gathered around a few speakers in the far corner of this larger area. Now that everyone was gathered at the stands, the three spirits were able to get a proper look at the things that so many people were interested in. And this seemed to be the technology they liked the most.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    They placed their hands onto the speakers, following the cables around around to the source, growing more excited as they went on. They realized what it was they were seeing, and it was exciting to them as well.


    "Are those..?" Marge approached the stall. She had noticed some movement from the distance and figured she would check on things. Everything here was secured with magic, so nothing could be stolen, but it was better to be safe than sorry, "Are those spirits of technology?"


    <hr>


    Modak smiled, looking out at the crowd, "For my entire life, I have seen magic as this grand, unattainable thing. For others, it was so... natural. All people see the really amazing things. Rockets propelled through combustion magic, or the beautiful displays that we see every year here during Spirit Week. Everyone sees those things, and feels... wonder," he looked down at his hand, holding the coin of the Aglecard family, "But everybody forgets the mundane things. The signals flickering through the air every day, from your phone to your television set. They all usually have some amount of mana in them these days. In some places, even opening a door requires you to use mana, and people enter without a second thought, because it is so normal to them. But for me, every interaction with magic and mana was hard and special. As a kid, when I learned that phone signals are stabilized with mana, I left the room whenever my mother called someone, to avoid messing up the call with my presence. And without assistance, getting into the magic tower on my first day there was literally impossible, because the building itself refused to see that I was there."


    <hr>


    The three spirits turned around, looking at Marge surprised. They quickly hid behind some of the machines. Amongst spirits, technology spirits tended to be the most skittish, ironically. Technology was created to be used by people, but the spirits borne from those ideas or objects often refused to show themselves, out of fear of becoming tools themselves.


    Marge squatted down with a smile, "No need to be scared. I see that you guys like this tech, don''t you? I was actually one of the people that created it. Well, I mostly did some background work, but if you would like, I could explain it to you."


    Slowly, the three spirits came out from behind the speakers, looking up at Marge curiously. She herself was also incredibly excited to be able to show something like this to technology spirits. Who knew, if they liked it, maybe they would pass on the information to Kars. If Modak could get a blessing from the spirit of technology, surely that would only allow him to create even greater new things.


    "Alright, it starts over here."


    <hr>


    "Nonetheless, I persisted. The things that other ignored were so... clear to me. What was mundane to them, was magical to me. I tried to learn more about it, so that I could make sure I knew how exactly my disorder could affect the lives of those around me, and the more I learned, the more I fell in love with magic," Modak said. He looked at the tablet on the table in front of him, tapping one of the buttons. The speakers set up around the stage started up, as an visual illusion was formed through this auditory magic. For now, it was a small butterfly, flapping its wings down toward Modak''s hand. Once it sat there, he continued, "I mean, how can you not? Is something like this not absolutely amazing? That''s why, whenever I had the chance, I tried to make something that could help me navigate this world of magic without any of my own. I made a phone case that allowed me to activate mana sensors in the subway. Like that, I was able to use the sort of magic that I saw everyone use every single day. And then I got an opportunity that I never expected. I got the opportunity to grasp at even greater magic, beyond most people''s reach."


    <hr>


    "... and this part here, then takes that mana, and places it into..." Marge explained, glancing over at the spirits. But they were acting sort of... weird. The ink on the pages of the book-headed spirit was smudged, and the tv-headed spirit was flickering. The lens of the microscope-headed spirit seemed a bit dirty, too. And then, the ink flowed from the book-headed spirit''s head, dripping onto the ground.


    Confused and worried, Marge took out a handkerchief. She tried to hold it under the spirit''s head, catching as much of the ink as possible. She didn''t want to press it against its pages, worried it would be rude, but none of the spirits really reacted whatsoever. They were just standing there, growing disinterested.


    What snapped Marge out of that confusion was the sharp pain she soon felt on her finger as she touched splotches of ink. It was like it was searing hot, as if someone poured boiling oil onto her. And it was sticking to her skin, growing and spreading.


    "Oh... no, no, we can''t have that," a voice said, as a young gnome stepped onto the lot.


    <hr>


    As the music coming from the speakers grew louder, the butterfly on Modak''s hand exploded into a whole swarm, fluttering around the stage, "And that is exactly what we have done. It is still in its early stages, but some of you may have seen it earlier already, at that stall tucked away in the corner. We have created a way to bring true magic into the hands of anyone. I believe that it is possible to bring this technology further than you or even I could even imagine right now. This magic has no true caster. It is synthetic, starting from a computer, turned into a song that has this power."


    Modak pressed the next button on the tablet, and the butterflies almost immediately fell apart into magical sparkles that were carried by the wind toward the people in front of the stage. Above the heads of the people, another illusion was being created. It was a simple parade of dolls, a simple recreation of a popular spell that was often used at special events and was seen on TV quite a lot, so there was almost nobody that couldn''t recognize it.


    <hr>


    Richard stepped up to Marge. The cyclops'' whole arm had been overtaken by corruption at this point.


    "Wh-What is going on..? P-Please, get help, I-" Marge practically begged, feeling incomparable pain in her whole body, as the roots of the corruption took hold with in her. But Richard shook his head.


    "I... don''t think I can do that. If people knew that there''s corruption at play here, all of this would be a waste. What a shame though, if you were compatible with my corruption you could have at least become a useful asset," the gnome let out a long sigh, looking over to the technology spirits, "I guess I need to speed this up a bit."


    With a snap of his finger, black sparks were flung over from Richard''s hand over to the three spirits. Immediately, their bodies began to distort and grow. Their heads were torn and cracked and bent, as if they were thrown out onto the curb years ago. It didn''t take long until they each towered above Marge. If they had eyes, they would be staring at her with animalistic hunger, towering over her.


    "I-I... What''s going on, what did you do to them?!"


    "I just improved them a bit, that''s all," Richard said as if it were obvious. He looked at the spirits, "Anyway, seems like this worked out. Okay, tear her arm off and give it to me."


    Before Marge could let out even one more sound, two of the spirits held onto her body, while another grabbed onto her arm. With a quick motion and an unnatural strength, Marge''s flesh and muscles and bones were pulled apart. It happened so fast that Marge didn''t even realize what happened at first, before the most unimaginable pain of her life overtook her. She let out a loud scream, so Richard knew he had to hurry up.


    After being given the arm which held all of the corruption that tried attaching itself to Marge, he stepped into the back to hide and get rid of the evidence before others could find him.


    As he left, he looked at the spirits that were still holding onto Marge, who was slowly falling into unconsciousness.


    "Oh, and just finish her off, will you?"


    <hr>


    Modak smiled broadly as the people in front of him enjoyed the sight that he prepared. He was seeing the impact that his creation had on others, and he could hear the wows and laughter of them as he continued on playing the next segments of the illusion songs he prepared.


    The pride that filled his body was incredible. It wasn''t an exaggeration to call this one of the best moments in his entire life thus far.


    This was a day he was always going to remember.

 114 - The Shrine

    The sound of dozens of waterfalls drowned out almost everything else. The car''s engine, the footsteps of the crowd that had gathered around one of the pools at a waterfall''s base, not even Ryan''s own thoughts were easy to hear with all this much noise.


    "This is it? This is the entrance we''re going to use?" looking out the windshield from the back of the car, Ryan tried to figure out what was going on, "Aren''t there too many people around?"


    Runar let out a long sigh, "They''re Goria''s acolytes. Self-appointed, for the most part. They''re the people we needed to get permission from, and it looks like they want to see who it is that was personally invited by a Great Spirit."


    "Urgh... got it. And remind me again why the closest entrance to a water reservoir under the city is in the Falls of all places?" he opened up the door and stepped outside, with his mother and uncle right behind him.


    "This is quite beautiful though, isn''t it?" Mary asked, looking around at the dozens of waterfalls in her sight, almost cutting the buildings scattered around the area in half. Since this was directly next to all the waterfalls, there weren''t a lot of homes here, but there were a lot of mining operations around here. The housing in the Falls was a little further away. This part here was a bit too dangerous for people to live if the weather turned too bad, and the rivers overflowed. However, it was an extremely popular tourist-destination, and was another place where tons of people gathered for Goria''s day. There was still some garbage left around here from yesterday.


    Ryan walked forward toward the crowd, and was quickly met by someone in long, white and pale blue robes. Though, they looked a little weird. Rather than waving in the strong wind up here on the mountain as robes like this should, they were moving around like... waves. Like water. It was probably a specially enchanted fabric, but even knowing that, Ryan was a bit taken aback.


    "You are the one that was summoned?" the acolyte said with a smile on his face, though behind that smile, Ryan could feel the jealousy almost boiling over.


    "Yeah, that''s me. So, uh... how does this work? Is there some kind of submarine or something?" he asked, glancing past the man at the pool of water that all of those people were standing around. Still smiling, the acolyte stepped aside and led Ryan closer to the edge of the water, looking down. But instead of seeing what he was hoping for, he just saw the beginnings of steps leading deeper into the water. He had a bad feeling about this. And when Yamada came to him with a hiking backpack filled to the brim, that feeling came even worse.


    "Wait, are we walking?" Ryan asked with a wry smile, looking over to his uncle.


    "We? Sorry, but you have to go alone," Runar replied, "And yes... you have to walk."


    "What. Why? You said ''We got permission'' in your text, so why are you suddenly pulling out?"


    The acolyte quickly explained, "Gaining permission to enter Goria''s domain is not easy, even for us. You have been invited to enter her shrine of all places, so that is a journey you will have to take on your own."


    Ryan clicked his tongue as he put on the backpack, "Urgh, fine... So it''s all... steps? Is there some kind of slide hidden there?"


    "I am afraid it is ''all steps''. Though it should only take you four or five hours to reach the bottom if you walk at a brisk pace, and then another few hours to reach the actual shrine."


    With a sigh, Ryan stretched a bit, "Might as well get something out of it. Four hours? Let''s make it... three."


    "Ryan..." his mother said with a slight frown, "Don''t overdo yourself."


    "Nah, it''s fine. Even if I do get hurt, I''ve got the blood rose stuff," he pointed out, stepping closer to the edge of the water, "Alright, what do I do?"


    Ryan was given a shell that was clearly infused with some kind of magic, "As long as you have this on you, the water will make way."


    "Right. Got it," he replied, clutching the shell in his hand as he took a step forward toward the first step. The water moved out of the way, like it was repelled by him, "There''s no branching paths or anything... right? Just this one stairway?"


    The acolyte nodded, "Yes, just the one. I wish you a good journey down to the shrine."


    Ryan waved at his mother, uncle, and Yamada, and then took the next step into the water. The stares of the people standing around the small pool were pretty uncomfortable. They were barely moving, and just staring at him with a strange mixture of expressions. Some were excited that someone to be here for the moment someone was called to meet Goria, while others were incredibly envious that it wasn''t them that walking down those steps. Others were even looking at Ryan with disgust on their face, as if they hated to see someone that wasn''t one of Goria''s followers like them.


    But he just had to ignore it. Ryan continued down the steps and before long, the water closed up behind him. All the noise from the waterfalls and voices from above was shut off, and he was left alone. Since there was nothing else to do, Ryan put on his headphones and started listening to some music. He probably wouldn''t have good signal going down, so luckily he had a lot of stuff downloaded.


    Once Ryan followed the steps down to the pool''s bottom, he entered a tunnel. Now, not just the noise from above was gone, but so was the light. But the walls of the tunnel were lined with lamps, so he was able to see anyway. The tunnel itself was pretty roomy, probably because it was made so that anyone that could ever be called by Goria could make their way down here. But that also meant that the steps were pretty large, making every step downward incredibly annoying. Four hours of this was going to absolutely destroy his knees.


    Just for a moment, Ryan squatted down and touched the steps. He thought they would be slippery and covered in algae, but they were actually pretty dry and rough. If this continued on all the way to the bottom, maybe Ryan could use to boost his ''Physicality'' stat training. That was the last stat that he really wanted. The resistance stat was also useful, but it didn''t seem easy for him to awaken that right now.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    Taking some deep breaths while mentally preparing himself, Ryan started walking forward. He first tried to move at a pace where he could walk these steps as though they were the size meant for a human like him. It was a bit uncomfortable since he had to take extra long steps, but he soon got into a good rhythm. When he managed to get his breathing under control, as he did whenever he did those long runs at the gym with Yanna, Ryan started to try and speed up a bit. He wasn''t quite sprinting, but he was definitely moving along those steps much faster than normal.


    "This shouldn''t quite take four hours," he said to himself. He should be able to cut that down to at least 2 hours, if things continued this way. Though, about an hour and change later, Ryan grew a bit worried. The lights that he was completely relying on weren''t continuing at some point further down the stairway. It didn''t seem to be a curve either, though, as he could see the steps themselves continue, submerged in the dark water.


    And it didn''t take long until he understood why. As Ryan continued down the steps, the walls disappeared. Instead, what was in front of him was a massive, dark cave. How was he supposed to navigate this space? He might be able to manage if he slowed down a ton, but there wasn''t even anything like a safety railing here. And with the shell, if he fell off the side of the steps, he would be left in complete free-fall in a bubble of air.


    But as Ryan walked forward a bit more, he came to a small platform. It was like a place to take a break during the descent, with a table, a bench, and everything. Figuring that he might as well sit down and eat something, Ryan dropped down onto the bench and opened his backpack. For some reason, it even had a change of clothes in there... when did Yamada prepare this?


    Either way, he quickly got out one the packed boxes of food. Runar had shown them to Ryan before, these boxes were specially made to keep the food inside at the perfect temperature using an assortment of runes on the inside.


    "When it comes to convenience, he really doesn''t hold out, does he?" Ryan sighed as he started to eat the food. Tiar also seemed quite happy that Ryan was finally eating something. They had been getting a bit tense since the descent started. Though, part of that could be the fact that they were getting closer and closer to Goria. The Great Spirit''s energy was flowing through all of the water around Ryan, and since symbiotes seemed to be connected to her, maybe Tiar was sensing something like that. If Ryan was sensitive to matters like that, then Tiar had to be as well.


    At the end of his brief break, once Ryan was done, he put everything back into his bag and decided to continue on beyond the platform surrounded by complete darkness. At least the shell itself was giving off a small glow, so Ryan had some light to himself, but it really wasn''t a lot. It was like the strength of a weak night light. It wouldn''t be easy to walk down the steps with just this. But it wasn''t like he had a choice, so he carefully started walking down the stairs connecting to this platform.


    And as his foot touched the first next step, a soft light shone from the stone slabs, illuminating the edges.


    "Urgh... you could have done that earlier," Ryan groaned, quickly continuing on with his journey. He didn''t know exactly how long it would still take him to reach the bottom, but even once he got there, he was apparently supposed to keep walking for a while. According to Runar, Goria''s shrine was actually constructed during the times of Old Riverside. That meant they were parts of the ruins under where Ryan lived, though far, far deeper down. Which also meant that after crossing that distance vertically, he would have to walk all the way to oldtown. But once he was able to just move horizontally, he should be able to jog part of the way. Doing all this with this backpack on him should actually be pretty good training.


    Though, he did feel a bit bad that Gaia wouldn''t be able to tend to her garden tonight. But this was just a bit more important. It was possible that Gaia was able to give him something to prevent any further attempts by the White Shadow Society to infect spirits. In the meantime, the Aglecards were taking proper care of everything and would use the cure to help out any spirits that were corrupted.


    An hour after Ryan got to the second half of the stairway, he finally reached the bottom of the massive dark cave. This must be one of the many water reservoirs hidden under the city... no wonder Goria was born here of all places. The waterfalls, the river, the lake, these reservoirs, and rain season apparently got pretty bad in these parts as well. Either way, the energies of water surrounded this town from quite literally all directions.


    But now, it was time for him to enter the next tunnel, leading away from this cave. There was another place to rest at the beginning of this tunnel, and it was actually a bit larger, with space to spend the night. Looking up at the steps whose light was slowly fading away, Ryan certainly understood why. If it usually took at least four hours to go down these stairs, unless you basically ran down them like Ryan, then going up would be quite the tough ordeal. Depending on when you got here, it might be better to spend the night than to force yourself to get up the steps and risk falling down due to exhaustion.


    That being the case, Ryan didn''t need that right now. He might consider it on the way back, though. He definitely wasn''t excited about having to climb those stairs at all. But for now, he took a break, ate something again, rested for ten or twenty minutes, and then continued on his way. Since he was in another tunnel, the walls had lights on them again, so he was actually able to see quite well. The water was also absolutely pristine, so he could see the lights stretch out for quite a while like this.


    As Ryan continued on walking this path, he passed through two more larger reservoirs, though he really had no idea how big they could be. Before long, Ryan made it to the end of the path, entering the last, and apparently largest underwater cave hiding under the city. Different to the others ones, this one was as bright as the tunnels that he had been passing through. Massive towers of glowing crystals were growing alongside each part of the cave. Bioluminescent fish that were larger than Ryan were swimming through the water in small schools. Every once in a while, a curious straggler came by Ryan to check out this bubble, but it would disappear the moment one of its scales touched the air hidden inside.


    But none of what he was seeing compared to the sight of the massive building in the distance. Almost the entirety of the cave''s wall was carved out into the form of pillars and statues. This must have taken years and years to create, even with the assistance of skilled earth mages. The whole place was illuminated by a swarm of jellyfish. Ryan really wanted to avoid accidentally bumping into one of their stingers... Which wasn''t hard, considering that they were the brightest part of their bodies.


    Ryan continued on into the hall, reaching a pedestal. It had a sign with a sentence in different languages, "Leave the shell here"


    Though he was nervous, since this was the rule of the shrine, Ryan did as told. He placed the shell onto the pedestal, and watched as the bubble of air that was surrounding Ryan quickly shrank down. He was panicking, trying to grab the shell again, but before he could the water had already enveloped him completely.


    But... Ryan didn''t get wet. He definitely felt like he was underwater, with his body feeling a lot lighter, and he could feel the water''s cold touch, but he wasn''t wet. Not to mention, he was even able to breathe, as no water seemed to be able to enter his mouse or nose.


    "Huh..." Ryan let out, his voice blunted by the water, though still fairly audible. He continued on the path inside of the building, and soon reached a large double door, too large for even the largest Giant to open.

 115 - Goria

    Massive doors the size of a high-rise stretched out upward in front of Ryan. Each half of the door was decorated with enormous carvings of a woman. Her upper body appeared similar to that of a common humanoid, though her lower body was a fish-tail. She appeared to be a mermaid, at least outwardly. Though Ryan had never seen one before himself, in one of the books that Runar gave him, he read that they were part of the species under the Aglecards'' protection.


    In most drawings of Goria, she was usually depicted pretty much exactly like this, so Ryan knew that it was supposed to be her. Something like this must have taken years to finish, especially all the way down here.


    A bit nervous, Ryan stepped up to the door, and as he got closer, it slowly opened up. The motion created a strong current that pulled Ryan inside of the space beyond the door. It was where he wanted to go anyway, but it still felt nerve racking. But he didn''t have much time to really think about that in the first place. Because what Ryan saw beyond the doors was absolutely breathtaking.


    For a few moments, Ryan was unsure if he suddenly moved up at some point on his way here, because he could see sunrays breaking through the surface of the water above, illuminating the massive reef below. It stretched out as far as Ryan could see in this crystal clear water. Numerous breeds of fish swam all around him. Some were the size that he was used to, while others were as massive as the ones in the reservoir outside.


    The reef''s corals climbed up on top of each other like densely-growing trees, creating a glittering forest. How was this space so large? There was no way this was part of the same reservoir. It seemed as though Ryan had entered a whole other space. He was now inside of Goria''s domain. The water that surrounded him was so densely filled with magic that it felt incomparable to the mana density of dungeon air, but somehow, it wasn''t as offensive as in a dungeon. This space was inviting, and the magic inside of it was trying its best to not hurt Ryan if at all possible.


    Ryan walked forward, looking around him as he did. Everything around here was so massive, it just felt like he had been shrunken down and dropped into the most picturesque reef you could find on the coast. At this point, Ryan understood why Goria''s acolytes were so jealous of him. This was a once in a lifetime sight, and he hadn''t even met Goria herself just yet.


    The path in front of Ryan continued on for a while. It was lined with shells like a brick road, and though it was a bit bumpy to walk on, he didn''t really care. He was barely able to focus on what was below him, because there was something new to see with every step he walked and every breath he took.


    Ryan continued on through Goria''s domain. Its size was truly incomprehensible. It didn''t seem like it would ever end, and even looking behind himself, an infinite ocean was stretching out beyond the door that he had come here through. It took him about an hour of walking to get to the end of the path. He looked around, trying to see if the path continued on somewhere else, but there was nothing. Ryan was just standing at the edge of a cliff, staring down into an abyss that had glistening and glittering like stars in the night sky shining through the dark fog.


    As he looked around, Ryan spotted something in the distance. There were fish all over the place, but this was something else. It was clearly massive, approaching him from the distance. It was a whale, larger than any that Ryan believed to exist in the world, with a forest of barnacles, kale, and corals growing on its back. But atop its crown sat a certain figure, hidden between the underwater critters swimming on top of the whale''s back. It was a woman with the upper body of a human, and the lower body of a fish.


    Soon, the whale came to a halt, and the woman swam away from her throne, approaching Ryan. But she continued swimming for far longer than Ryan expected. She appeared rather small from a distance, but as she approached, her body seemed incomprehensibly large. It was an even bigger size difference than there was between Ryan and Maximus.


    The massive mermaid came to a halt, looking down at Ryan with a soft smile. She was beautiful. That was the only word that really came to mind. Though she didn''t open her mouth, a voice soon reverberated through the water.


    "I thank you for coming to this humble place. First, allow me."


    Goria''s voice was calming and soft, but still carried an unbelievable authority within it. Ryan was almost stunned by its sound, though he was snapped out of it when a message appeared in front of his eyes.


    <hr>


    [You have completed the Quest -Goria''s Gratitude-]


    <hr>


    Ryan waved his hand to the side, getting rid of the system window. He slightly bowed his head in front of the figure in front of him, "Thank you. It''s an honour to be able to speak to you."


    Goria laughed slightly, shaking the water around Ryan''s body, "Please raise your head, my child. You should not be the one bowing, but I. You have done me a great favour."


    Though he was grateful to hear something like that, Ryan felt a bit unsure about what he was hearing, "I''m sorry, but... I don''t know if I did anything to deserve those words from you. I just poured out a potion over a spirit''s head, that''s all."


    "I am not merely speaking of your curing of the child of the lake, but much more than that. You and your predecessors have been in great service to us for many an era, and we have seldomly had the opportunity to thank you."


    "Do you mean the other Spirit Keepers?"


    The figure in front of Ryan nodded her head, a soft but bright smile on her face, "Indeed. The Keepers have long ------"


    Goria''s voice continued to sound out around Ryan, and he knew for certain that she was speaking. But at some point, her voice simply became inaudible. Like his body refused to hear what she was saying, filtering it out. Realizing this fact, Goria stopped herself.


    "My apologies, I... have not spoken in quite a while. I tend to forget what I can and can not share."


    Ryan frowned slightly, feeling a headache come on, "Does that have something to do with the seal on the spirits?"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Goria seemed surprised, as the massive face in front of Ryan opened her eyes wide, nodding, "I was not aware that you had already learned of this fact. I pray that you will continue to uncover more, but I may divulge more to you."


    With a sigh, slightly disappointed that he couldn''t just be told all the secrets he had been wondering about, Ryan nodded, "I understand, but thank you anyway. So if you can''t tell me more, what did you call me here for?"


    "I have prepared gifts for you to help you and my child you carry with you."


    "Child? What do you mean?"


    Goria was silent for a few moments, as the enormous mermaid moved her hands around as if she was shaping the water in front of her. Soon, Goria spoke again.


    "She is fractured, but a part of my daughter is with you. And you are bonded to another with my energy," she explained, and Ryan glanced down at his arm.


    "So... the latter is Tiar, I would guess, and the former is... Violette?"


    The mermaid finished shaping the water, as three small objects floated toward Ryan, "You are correct. Though all spirits branching off the water are my children, the one named Violette has earned a special place amongst them. She was the first to ------"


    Ryan could feel a slight pain in the side of his head. It was getting more uncomfortable, like his mind was actively fighting against the words he was hearing. Again, Goria stopped.


    "My apologies. I will not attempt to divulge anything for the time being. Maybe in the future, when this knowledge has come to you yourself, you may come to understand what I was trying to tell you," Goria explained. Ryan slowly nodded, trying to push through the headache. And a handy distraction came soon enough, as the three objects reached Ryan.


    The first that his eyes landed on was a bead.


    "An object meant to help guide you through your journey. I am aware that you are searching for lost fragments of my daughter. This will alert you when you are close to another fragment, and similarly, when another dormant core bearing the energies of water is near."


    Ryan raised his brow. This was perfect; it was exactly what he needed. It didn''t seem quite as potent as the guiding light that he used to find Gaia''s last fragment, but this was still going to make the search so much easier. Rather, it would make the search viable in the first place, as without this, it was like finding the oldest gold coin in a dragon''s hoard. Ryan''s eyes soon wandered over to the next item.


    It was a metallic horn, the sort that you drank out of.


    "A tool of the legends, able to take on many a form. However, actually making use of these forms is akin to taming a current. Your bond, Tiar, may also be able to make use of this tool."


    This one was a bit more confusing. Ryan had no idea what she really meant, but it sounded like it could be useful in a lot of situations. He would just have to take a look at it later. But then, there was also the last of the three items.


    It was a pair of earrings made with greenish blue pearls that had intricate carvings on their surfaces.


    "Magical accessories created to allow their wearer to freely move, breathe, and act when fully submerged."


    The three items were placed into Ryan''s hands. They were clearly extremely potent magical items, ones that he didn''t quite feel he actually deserved. But he could tell that Goria wanted to give this to him no matter what, as if she had prepared these a long time ago.


    "Thank you, so much," Ryan said with a smile on his face, carefully putting the bead and the drinking horn into a safe place in his bag. He then quickly took his stud earrings out and replaced them with these pearl earrings. They weren''t necessarily his style, but he did have to admit that they looked pretty neat.


    And the moment that Ryan put them on, he could feel a wave of magic come over his body. Since he came into the temple, Ryan had been basically just walking in the water, breathing through the power of the shell that he stashed away earlier, but now it was different. His body was no longer weighed down, and it was like he was normally swimming in water. He could see much more clearly in the water as well, and the sound of everything around him wasn''t a dull thud anymore. Ryan could hear the current flow through the massive, never-ending reef as if it were wind flowing through a forest, singing a melody he never even thought about before.


    He smiled broadly, looking at the figure in front of him. The enormous mermaid looked at Ryan, looking at him just as gently as she did before.


    "Do you think I can thank Goria directly?" he asked, and the mermaid''s smile dropped, surprised. The water was silent, as the mermaid began to chuckle, though not a single sound left her body. She stretched out her hand toward Ryan, who slowly swam onto her palm. Carefully holding his body, the mermaid started carrying Ryan away, over toward the whale where she had come from. A distance away, the mermaid stopped, letting go of Ryan, and he swam a bit closer forward until he felt it was enough.


    Ryan was faced with the whale. If the mermaid was the size of a building, the whale was a mountain. Now that he was closer, able to see the giant barnacles protruding from the being''s skin, he couldn''t help but marvel at the sight in front of him.


    "Thank you, Goria. For inviting me, and for giving me these gifts," he said with a smile on his face, and the Great Spirit in front of him was silent for a few moments, until her voice reverberated through the ocean, as it had been since the beginning.


    "... It is unusual for someone to see through this little act during our first meeting," she pointed out, and Ryan laughed.


    "Yeah, I guess I have good instincts for this kinda stuff," he said.


    "Instincts, you say... Most are simply satisfied with the fake image I portray. Melusine, my eldest daughter, acts in my stead, as her image is easier to accept than my true form. But you... you were always looking past her while speaking to me, were you not?"


    "Well, of course, I could tell that she wasn''t you. I mean, I was a bit taken aback, because she looks exactly like all the painting I''ve seen, and the carvings outside in the temple, but when I was here, it was kind of obvious."


    Goria''s body was stationary in the ocean as if it had always been there, "I see there is a seed within your mind."


    "Huh?" a bit taken aback, Ryan turned back around toward Melusine, and then back to Goria, thinking about the seed that was solidly set in place in the space between the domains, "Do you know anything about that? It was left behind when I cured a bit of corruption from someone. Actually, the lake''s spirit also dropped something similar when I cured him. Is it... bad?"


    "Bad? No, it''s the seed of a blessing. If treated right, it can bring you much fortune. Let me assist you in that journey," Goria said, but Ryan tried to quickly shake his head.


    "No, no, you already gave me so much! I-"


    "Please. I insist."


    Goria''s body slowly began to shift as she opened her mouth. The ocean bent in response. Water flowed around Ryan''s body, tightly enveloping him. But it wasn''t what was going on outside of his body that was concerning him, but rather what was happening inside. It started to rain in the space between the domains. And it wasn''t just a light rain either. It was a storm that clouded Ryan''s mind for a few moments. But when the rain settled, a change had been done to the space between the domains.


    The seed had grown into a solid sapling. Its roots had dug deeper than before, and a small mound was formed underneath it. But around that mound, a pond had formed. The energy of cool, calming water filled his mind.


    "Whoa..." Ryan let out instinctively, and he noticed Goria let out a slight laugh. Hearing of a ''Great Spirit'', Ryan expected that he would be dealing with something like a god. Something so far removed from him that he could never understand her. And sure, Goria was beyond anything Ryan could have ever tried to imagine beforehand, but in the end, she was quite... approachable.


    "Again... thank you," he said. Though he wasn''t sure exactly what this change meant, he knew that it was something special, and something good.


    "Now... It is time for you to return. Good luck on your journey, Ryan Aglecard."


    Before he could respond, Ryan felt a current push against his body. He was thrown backward, all the way to the entrance to Goria''s domain, just seeing Melusine wave at him from a distance. When he was outside, the door closed in front of him, and Ryan''s mind took a few moments to catch up to what just happened.

 116 - Seed of Blessing

    A long, deep groan sounded out as Ryan stepped out of the water. It was the middle of the night by now, and he had been walking back for hours. It was a pretty damn exhausting hike, but he had everything that he needed with him.


    When Ryan looked around, he saw a group of Goria''s acolytes waiting nearby, talking to each other. Before he could even call out to them, though, one of the acolytes saw him and they all rushed over to him a moment later.


    "Young lord Aglecard, did something happen? How are you back so soon?" one of them asked, and Ryan raised a brow. Soon? This whole thing took so long. But then again, he managed to cut the travel time almost in half.


    "I was running for a lot of it, that''s all," Ryan responded, pulling out his phone so that he could call someone to pick him up. But when he did, and his phone connected to the network, a flood of messages and missed calls came in from friends that were trying to reach him to make sure he was okay. Confused, he looked at the acolytes, "What happened? What''s going on?"


    The acolytes looked at each other hesitantly, though one of them quickly explained, "Something happened in the city. Some spirits went wild and attacked the Magic Tower''s expo."


    Ryan''s eyes widened, and he immediately dialled Modak''s number. It rang a few times, as the acolytes continued explaining.


    "Of course, you do not need to worry, things were taken care of quite well before things got too bad!"


    They were clearly just trying to calm Ryan down, but he wasn''t even really listening to them anymore. He was just focusing on his phone. And a few moments later, the call connected.


    "Hey, I-"


    "Modak, are you okay? What happened over there? I just heard, I didn''t have any signal while I was heading down to the shrine, so-" Ryan interrupted the voice on the other end of the call. He was so frazzled that he didn''t even realize that it wasn''t Modak that answered at all.


    "Calm down, Modak is okay," Yanna reassured him, "He broke his arm, but that''s about the worst of it. Some bruises here and there, that''s all."


    Letting out a relieved sigh, Ryan dropped down into a squat, "Alright, great. Uh... is he around?"


    "He''s sleeping right now, filled up with pain meds. Healing items don''t work on him, so they had do it like that..." Yanna explained, "I saw that you were the one calling him, and Modak was talking about you earlier, so I figured I should answer. Where have you been this whole time? What did you say about a shrine?"


    Ryan''s heart skipped a beat as he realized what he said when the call connected. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath, trying to think, "I..." he started, trying to come up with some kind of lie. But when he thought about it a few moments longer, he realized... why would he need to lie? Talking about Goria wouldn''t reveal anything about the Aglecards, since they weren''t directly connected, so Runar wouldn''t be able to complain no matter what he said, "After what happened at the lake last night, Goria invited me to come down to her shrine. It''s a bit complicated, and I can''t tell you any details, but I was underground so my phone didn''t have a signal. I left right around when Modak''s big presentation should have started."


    There was a bit of silence on the other side of the call, before Yanna asked a very simple question.


    "What the fuck are you talking about? Why would Goria invite you- Huh?"


    "It''s one of those details that I can''t tell you, sorry. But really, what happened over there?"


    Again, Yanna was silent for a few moments, though this time it was probably more because she was struggling to find the right words to explain everything to Ryan, "... About right when Modak finished his presentation, three spirits showed up. Like, technology spirits, or something. And... uhm... Yeah, they went wild. Hijacked everything. Things blew up and moved on their own. A lot of people got hurt and were attacked by the spirits. And Modak''s coworker, Margaret, she... She was found, dead. Apparently it really wasn''t pretty."


    Ryan''s face went pale as his stomach dropped. That wasn''t good. It wasn''t good at all. They did it. The shadows managed to corrupt some spirits at the worst time and in the worst place.


    "Fuck, fuck, fuck," Ryan yelled out, as he started to pace around back and forth, "What about Liam? H-He was with Modak''s family, is he okay?"


    "He''s fine, don''t worry. That''s actually how Modak got hurt. One of the spirits tried to jump out at the crowd in front of the stage, but Modak managed to stop it. Apparently because of his Mana Rejection Disorder, the spirit was basically weak to him, or something. I don''t get it, but... some Heroes showed up pretty quickly and took care of everything and trapped the spirits."


    Ryan let out a long, long sigh of relief, "I''m glad you guys all alright. Tell Modak to call me when he wakes up, okay? I need to call my mom."


    "Of course. I''ll let him know... And explain to me a bit more why you were called to meet Goria later, okay?"


    "Sure, I''ll try to tell you what I can. Talk to you later," Ryan responded, hanging up the call. Immediately, he dialled his mother''s number, and the first signal tone was interrupted as his mother''s voice sounded out.


    "Ryan! You''re okay! Wait, you''re out already? I thought you would take until the morning..." she said.


    "Yeah, I was jogging, but that''s not important. I heard about what happened, is everything okay on your side?"


    "Yes, I''m fine, don''t worry. I''m at the house with Liam, he''s pretty shaken up. And your uncle had to head out and take care of some things, he wouldn''t tell me what..."


    Ryan slowly nodded, "Alright, that''s fine, then. I''ll call him in a second, I just wanted to make sure you''re okay."


    "It all happened pretty soon after you walked into the water, so we were still up there when things started," Mary explained, and Ryan clicked his tongue, annoyed. If Ryan had been down there still, he could have tried to help out with the cure and prevented a lot of damage. But like this... he was just useless.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "I''ll let you know when I''m on my way home," Ryan said, saying goodbye to his mother before hanging up the call. Now, he just had to call Runar. He also answered the call pretty quickly.


    "Ryan? How-"


    "I rushed a bit, that''s not important. What happened?" Ryan interrupted his uncle, who thought about it for a moment, but quickly responded.


    "Some spirits were corrupted and attacked the people attending the expo. A lot of stuff happened, but the heroes that were already nearby were able to reduce the damages as much as possible. When I got there, I used the cure you gave me and treated the spirits. We''re trying to converse with them and find out what happened, but... we already know."


    Ryan let out a long sigh, "Richie... Fuck, okay. Do you need me for anything right now? I''d like to go home and see mom, and maybe talk to Liam a bit after everything."


    "You''re fine, there''s really nothing right now. Uhm... I hope I''ll be home by morning, and then we can talk about what happened at the shrine. I''ll send Yamada to come pick you up, but it might be like half an hour."


    "That''s fine," Ryan replied, "I''ll talk to you later."


    They hung up, and Ryan let out a loud groan. He turned around toward the acolytes, who were eagerly looking at him, "I''ll be picked up in a bit, so I''ll just be waiting over there, okay?"


    He pointed toward a rock that Ryan could probably sit and wait on, and the acolytes immediately nodded, "Of course! Please, go ahead!"


    Ryan walked over to the rock and dropped down onto it, grabbing something to eat from his backpack. He had gone through quite a bit down there, but he still had some left. And stress-eating didn''t feel like the worst idea right now. Though, as he was eating, he could see the eager expressions of the acolytes, staring at him.


    "Uh... can I help you? Do I need to do anything, still? Like, sign something, or... I don''t know how this kinda stuff works," Ryan said, quickly swallowing the food in his mouth, trying not to be rude.


    The acolytes looked at him curiously. They clearly weren''t amongst the group that glared at him jealously when he went down earlier. They were all on the younger side. Aquarian folk that probably heard stories of Goria since they could remember.


    "So, what was it like? Was Goria as beautiful as they say?" one of them asked, and Ryan smiled lightly. They were probably talking about Melusine, who was the one that was depicted in most imagery of Goria. Though, whether it was Melusine or Goria herself, Ryan didn''t need to lie.


    "She was beautiful, unlike anything I have seen in my life," he explained, and the young acolytes looked at each other excitedly.


    "What was she like?"


    "What did she call you there for?"


    The acolytes continued to ask questions along those lines, and Ryan tried to answer them for a while, but he was pretty quickly quite annoyed, "Listen, guys, I''m sorry but I''ve got a lot of stuff on my mind right now..."


    "Of course! We''re sorry, it''s just... people aren''t invited down to meet Goria a lot," they explained, and Ryan did understand where they were coming from, but right now? After a literal terror attack in the city? He wasn''t particularly in the mood for that right now.


    Though, luckily, it didn''t take long until a black car pulled up, and a demon stepped out of it. Ryan quickly grabbed his bag and awkwardly smiled at the acolytes, "Sorry, I''ve got to go. Uh... thanks for the help with everything? Oh, right, here-" Ryan pushed his hand into his pocket and quickly returned the shell that he was given before heading down to the reservoirs. He then rushed over to the car, signing, ''Thanks for picking me up'' to Yamada. She nodded, opening the door for Ryan, before quickly got in.


    Once Yamada pulled away, Ryan let out a long sigh, "Gods..."


    Finally, Ryan had the time to do something he''s been itching to do for hours now, but he wanted to get back to the surface first. Plus, being here on a cushioned seat after hours of jumping and running was just heavenly. He closed his eyes, trying to step into his own mind. Ryan quickly found himself in the space between the domains.


    Turning around, Ryan stood in front of the small pond that was created through Goria''s help. The sapling on the small island on the centre of the pond was standing there quite solidly. Goria called it the ''Seed of a blessing'', so clearly this was something that would be something good if he managed to nurture it properly. He had that other, smaller seed that was left behind when he cured the spirit of the lake as well... maybe he could expand this even further if he somehow got that in here too.


    Ryan slowly approached the water, squatting down in front of it. Putting his hand into it, the water was cool, and almost calming to just look at. He walked through the water, closer to the sapling. Just looking at it like this, he had no idea what kind of tree this was supposed to be. But... maybe he could get the help of someone who did.


    He looked over toward Gaia, who was sitting in her domain. The spirits were all quite nervous after hearing what happened in town, and were trying to distract themselves the best they could. And Gaia did this by just staying calm and practically meditating.


    Ryan used the ''Spirit Link'' skill, quickly connecting to the golem. He could see a thick thread connecting the two of them that wrapped itself around Gaia''s domain. And then... the walls of her domain disappeared. Ryan didn''t know that this was going to happen. He just thought maybe Gaia could use her ''Garden Golem''s Eye'' skill to identify the sapling so they could get some more info on it, but this was completely unexpected.


    Gaia quickly noticed what happened, standing up from where she was sitting. Before, the walls of the domain didn''t allow her to look out beyond it, but now, she was able to see not just Ryan and the sapling, but Maximus and Gregor''s domains, as well as the rest of the cores floating in the air nearby.


    "Sorry, I didn''t expect that your domain would open all of a sudden..." Ryan apologized, but Gaia seemed pretty excited about it. She walked out into the white space that surrounded the domains. She was truly enormous, and when she was walking like this, Gaia was pretty intimidating. But even so, Ryan was just happy to see her get to walk around with her regular, full size.


    "Can you use your appraisal skill on this sapling over here?"


    Gaia nodded her stone head immediately. After hearing Goria call this a ''seed of blessing'', Gaia seemed pretty excited, as you would expect. She approached Ryan and leaned down toward the seed. A sparkle appeared around Gaia''s eyes as her skill activated, and a message appeared in front of Ryan.


    <hr>


    [Seed of Blessing]


    [Growth Stage - Sapling]  [Growth Rate - 2%]


    [A Seed of Blessing that has taken root in a living being. Connecting to that being''s mana, the more the seed grows, the more blessings it will bring]


    <hr>


    Ryan''s eyes widened as he saw the message. So he was just going to get some kind of benefit from this over time? He thought maybe he would have to wait until fruit grew on it, but this was even better. Of course, he had no idea how fast it would grow, but if Goria found it so special, then it had to be a great benefit.


    "Awesome," a broad smile formed on Ryan''s face, "Thanks, Gaia."


    The golem nodded once again, seemingly quite happy and excited to learn more about this seed, even though there still wasn''t a lot of information here. Maybe Ryan could find out more on the internet later.


    But for now, he just had to get home. Liam was probably not doing too hot. He was already a mess a few weeks ago when they were in the channel because of the giant berserker''s rampage and the attack of the white shadow society''s soldiers, and now he lived through something else horrible that he probably struggled to really process.


    Ryan was about to ask Gaia to go back to her domain so that he could pull back out of his mind, when he noticed the spirit walk over to one of the cores floating nearby. It was the only one that was complete; Jester''s core. Gaia stood in front of it, and Ryan could sense something that he hadn''t noticed from the golem before. She was... annoyed. Angry.


    Gaia held out her hand toward the core, slightly tapping it, and Ryan quickly saw Jester''s core quiver in response.

 117 - Jester Joins

    Gaia tapped Jester''s core, making it quiver in response. It was like it was reverberating the space around it, giving off small pulses of magic. Once those pulses hit Gaia, she seemed to react in kind, giving off small pulses of magic that were moving out from her core. Were they... talking to each other? Ryan did notice that the spirits seemed to understand each other a lot better than Ryan could understand them, but he thought that it was just because of the memories of each other they had lost. He thought that maybe those memories left behind some kind of trace, like they knew each other, but they couldn''t remember each other, so they could understand what the other wanted better. But was it because they were communicating through magic this whole time?


    Could Ryan learn how to do that? It seemed like it was similar to how Geodes communicated, just instead of using pulses of light, they used pulses of magic.


    Of course, in his ''conversation'' with Jester in the past, Ryan had reacted to those pulses as well, but Jester would only give off a single pulse whenever Ryan was right about what he was saying, like Jester was confirming it. That was why it took him a pretty long time to figure out what exactly he wanted.


    The two spirits continued speaking to each other for a while, and though Ryan didn''t know what exactly they were saying, he had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Jester started ''saying'' something, but he would be quickly interrupted by Gaia, who had a barrage of magic pulses ready for him. And though Jester tried to get a word in, Gaia''s magic was overshadowing his. And even when Jester did manage to say something, Gaia just came back even stronger and faster.


    Gaia was scolding Jester, that''s what was going on. And Ryan couldn''t help but feel like that was pretty in line with what he knew about Gaia. She did give off a pretty motherly air all the time. But even so, Ryan didn''t want Gaia to just keep scolding her fellow spirit like that.


    "What''s going on? What are you saying to him?" he asked, looking up at Gaia. The golem turned toward him and quickly tried to find a way to explain things, but clearly didn''t know why. In the end, she pointed at Jester and then at her own domain.


    "Ah... Are you upset that Jester still hasn''t accepted me as his keeper?" Ryan asked, and the spirit immediately nodded her stone head.


    Ryan had to admit, he was a bit annoyed that nothing seemed to be enough for Jester. He was supposed to react to the excitement of those around him, or at least that''s what Jester had confirmed when Ryan confronted him before. But no matter what happened until now, it wasn''t good enough for him. And of course, Ryan didn''t want to force Jester to join him, but it was getting a bit confusing. After all, what else could be done to potentially satisfy the spirit? He seemed to have reacted quite a bit when Ryan met with Goria, but if neither one of the most famous events during all of New Riverside''s spirit week, nor meeting a Great Spirit could satisfy him, then what else could Ryan do?


    "Listen, I get it, but if Jester doesn''t want to complete the quest, we can''t force him to. I mean, his condition was for me to excite him, and if I haven''t managed to do that yet, then that''s that," Ryan pointed out, "I mean, of course I would love to have Jester join us all, but what can I do? If he doesn''t want to see things with his own two eyes, then that''s on him."


    Gaia looked down at Ryan, tilting her head to the side. Realizing that she wasn''t sure what he meant, Ryan quickly explained, "Well, things are a lot more exciting if you''re doing them yourself rather than just watching. I imagine that the way you guys see the world around me from in here is like how I can see things during a spirit link. You know everything that''s going on, but it''s just the raw... information, I guess. The knowledge of what''s going on, and how others are feeling. That''s different from actually going out and experiencing it on your own. Since it seems like all of you guys lost your memories, I figured that Jester might have forgotten what it feels like to actually walk around with a real body."


    Jester''s core began to vibrate shakily, like he was uncertain what he was supposed to ''say''. Gaia responded to him with pulses of magic on her own a few times, and Jester''s core soon stabilized. A message appeared in front of Ryan, but it was the first time that one had appeared in here. Instead of being the size of a computer monitor, this message was massive, like the wall of a building that simply sprung up behind Jester''s core.


    <hr>


    [The Harlequin Spirit Jester has been convinced by your words]


    [You have completed the Quest -Jester''s Excitement- through hidden requirements]


    [You have become the keeper of the Harlequin Spirit Jester]


    [The Temporary Domain has become a true Domain]


    [The -Spirit Domain- skill has levelled up]


    <hr>


    Ryan stared at the writing on the ''system wall'', and then let his eyes wander over to Jester. The spirit''s core moved back a few steps as the walls of a new domain were being constructed. The floor was covered in thick rugs and carpets, and drapes of fabric covered the ceiling and acted as walls, like this was the inside of a tent. A number of trinkets were scattered around the space, and a large pile of pillows and blankets seemed to act as a bed, together with a hookah that was sitting right beside it.


    "Well... alright, then," Ryan let out, wiping his hand to the side to make the system messages disappear. He closed his eyes for a few moments and took a long breath, "I''m... I''m not going to say anything about this. I''m... trying to... not get upset as easily, so... excuse me for a moment. Gaia, uhm... thank you so much for your help. The Spirit Link skill''s effect should be running out soon, so make sure you''re back in your domain by then, alright?" Gaia nodded her head, seeming both concerned for Ryan and excited that Jester had finally joined them.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Meanwhile, Ryan opened up his eyes in the car again, rubbing the bridge of his nose. By then, it didn''t take long until they arrived at home, and Ryan stepped out of the car, thanking Yamada for driving him home. She nodded with a smile, and quickly drove off again, probably heading out to meet with Runar again.


    Ryan walked around the building to the front door leading up to the flat, and quickly walked up the stairs. He unlocked the door, and could hear footsteps immediately, as his mother seemed to have jumped up the moment she heard the door open.


    "I''m home," Ryan said as he walked inside, and his mother quickly came up and gave him a hug.


    "Welcome home, are you okay?"


    "Yes, I''m fine. Are you?"


    Mary quickly nodded, "Just a little shaken up... how was everything down there? What was it like to meet Goria?"


    Ryan smiled awkwardly, "I can tell you a bit about it later, but for now I just want to take a bit of a break. I just came back from a pretty insane hike, so..."


    "Of course, of course! Do you want me to make you something to eat?"


    Though Ryan was about to decline, he quickly realized that he was actually still pretty hungry. Really, Tiar got more gluttonous every day.


    "That would be great... Is Liam in his room?"


    Mary turned toward the door to the young boy''s room, slowly nodding.


    "Alright, I''ll talk to him in a bit," he said, though his first step was his own bedroom. Ryan quickly changed out of the clothes that he was wearing. They were completely drenched, though not from water, but because of his own sweat. After jumping under the shower and scrubbing himself down for a bit, he changed into some more comfortable clothes and stepped out. He had already let Gaia out so that she could check on the plants upstairs in the garden, but neither Maximus nor Gregor seemed to be in the mood to come out right now. Rather, it was like they were anxiously preparing.


    Maximus was training using the recently upgraded dummy, while Gregor was eagerly working on some kind of new machine. Ryan would build Jester''s body in a bit, but right now he was still too annoyed at how easily the spirit ended up changing his mind.


    For now, he knocked on Liam''s door. A few moments later, the boy pulled it open and looked up at Ryan, surprised, "You''re back! I was told it would take you until dawn at the very least!"


    Ryan smiled, ruffling up the boy''s hair, "I managed to hurry a little. But more importantly, how are-"


    "I''m fine. Really, I''m... I''m okay," Liam interrupted him, but Ryan could tell that it wasn''t exactly the truth. Liam''s eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and he had built himself a mountain of blankets and pillows on his bed.


    Ryan squatted down in front of him, "Do you remember Silvia and Yanna''s father?" he asked, and Liam nodded a bit surprised.


    "Yeah... I don''t think he liked me very much," he pointed out, and Ryan smiled awkwardly. Liam probably wasn''t wrong about that, since Dimos had some issues with vampires in the past.


    "Of course he does, how could he not? Your a pretty cool kid, you know? It''s just not every day you meet a king, so he was probably just nervous," Ryan explained, though Liam clearly wasn''t particularly convinced, "Listen, Mister Redhorn is a therapist. He helped Silvia a ton when she was a kid before him and his wife adopted her. Do you think you''d want to talk to him sometime? I can ask him if he has any openings."


    Liam frowned, confused, "Isn''t a therapist someone that pokes around in your head, trying to steal your secrets?"


    Trying not to make his smile drop as he wondered what sort of idiot told Liam that, Ryan shook his head, "No, no, that''s not it at all. A therapist helps you learn how to deal with your emotions, and how to get through the hard parts of your life. I had one for years, before I moved to this town, and I''m planning on getting one again sometime," Ryan explained, "Plus, Mister Redhorn is a great person. I mean, you like Silvia and Yanna, right?"


    The vampire boy slowly nodded his head.


    "See? If someone could raise two amazing daughters like that, they must be okay, right? If you say you really, really don''t want to, then that''s okay, but I ask you to at least give it a shot. Just once, and then we can talk about it again," Ryan suggested, and Liam slowly nodded his head.


    "Okay. If you say so..." the boy replied, looking down at the ground, "Can I go back to bed?"


    "Of course. If you need anything, I''ll be here, okay?"


    Liam nodded, and slowly closed the door. Ryan would need to talk to Runar about this, but he wouldn''t take ''no'' for an answer there anyway. Especially since Dimos was already a bit more involved with all of these things than Ryan thought, his uncle should be easy to convince. But the issue was Dimos himself. Though Ryan was sure that he was a good therapist and he could look past his personal feelings, it was still a fact that Dimos had some biases toward vampires.


    He took a few deep breaths. Now, there were just a few small things he had to check out before he crashed onto the couch to sleep for the night. Ryan stepped out onto the balcony with his backpack, joining Gaia upstairs, and sat down on the bench set up at the rooftop''s edge. And then, Ryan quickly pulled out the two remaining items that he was given by Goria. He was still wearing the earrings right now.


    The bead didn''t seem to be doing anything right now. Though Ryan had no idea if that was because there was no core of a spirit related to water around here, or because he had to somehow activate this first. Ryan didn''t know a ton about magic items, but he knew that some of them needed ''attuning''. Luckily, that wasn''t necessary for his earrings, but something like this felt like it might need it.


    Carefully, as Ryan''s fingers laid on the golf-ball sized orb, he tried to make some of his mana flow inside of it, just in case. The moment he did, it lit up for just a moment, and something inside of it seemed to be moving. It was like some kind of mist, moving around like waves in there. And somehow, Ryan could instinctively tell that there was no water spirit around him beside Violette''s two cores that were already with him. It was like the bead was giving him a constant status report, so he would know if something changed. Ryan didn''t know the range, but maybe Runar could somehow boost it and they could search a larger area.


    But for now, Ryan put the orb away, and then took a closer look at the drinking horn. He slowly removed the cap. Inside of it was a flat surface of clear water, though it wasn''t flowing out even when Ryan tipped the horn over. Goria said this could turn into whatever ''tool'' he wanted, right?


    Just like with the bead, Ryan let his mana flow into the horn, and as he did, it was like he could feel the entirety of the water in the horn, all at once.


    With just a thought, he had it move out of the horn, and a stream of water slowly flowed out. It wasn''t any stronger than the water coming from a faucet, though. Taking a deep breath while concentrating, Ryan thought about a shovel. Though, that was only the case because he could see one leaning against the railing on the other side of the balcony. Immediately, the water turned into the shape of a shovel, freezing into that shape.


    It gave off a constant chill, but it didn''t seem to be melting at all, keeping its shape as long as Ryan wanted it to. But as Ryan held it, he could feel Tiar curiously wriggling on his arm. With a raised brow, Ryan moved the horn from his right hand to his left, and Tiar''s patterns practically reached out to it. Just a moment later, a message appeared before Ryan''s eyes.


    <hr>


    [The -Horn of Shapeless Water- can be used as a conduit for the -Spirit Armament- Skill]

 118 - Trump Card

    [The -Horn of Shapeless Water- can be used as a conduit for the -Spirit Armament- Skill]


    <hr>


    Ryan looked at the message with surprise. Is that what Goria meant? She said that Tiar would like the item a lot. And from what Ryan could tell, that seemed to be the case. The symbiote was practically shaking in excitement, wordlessly telling him to give it a try.


    With a slight sigh, he nodded his head, "Alright, sure. Which one do we want to give a shot? How about Granfell?"


    Feeling Tiar respond positively, Ryan took a deep breath. Maximus was training with Ripper right now anyway, so it was a good time. After all, when Ryan and Tiar used the Spirit Armament skill, whatever they were constructing out here couldn''t be accessed within the domain.


    As the skill activated, Ryan watched Tiar''s tendrils climb all over the drinking horn in his hand. Water flowed out from its opening, and the symbiote grabbed onto the small shards of ice that were being formed. Bit by bit, Tiar constructed the greatsword. As it laid in Ryan''s hand, he slowly moved it around. For some reason, it was just as heavy as it should be when made of actual metal, like the ice that it was built from was deeply compressed. The horn acted as the sword''s handle, which Ryan was pretty happy about. After all, he would prefer not to have to hold onto ice to use this item. Either way, this was perfect. It meant that they didn''t have to carry around a bunch of rebar anymore. Rather, as long as Ryan kept this on himself, he was always armed. Plus, it could probably be turned into other weapons as well.


    Knives, swords, shields, bats, anything that he could need. That was when another message appeared.


    <hr>


    [By using the -Horn of Shapeless Water- as a conduit, the -Spirit Armament- Skill''s activation duration has been extended indefinitely]


    <hr>


    Ryan looked at the message surprised, "Oh, shit, alright. So, basically, we just need the skill to actually form the items now?" he wondered, and Tiar seemed to respond quite excitedly. Though, Ryan actually wasn''t quite that impressed, "I mean, it''s useful, but couldn''t I just create this in the first place?" he asked. Using the power of the horn, if it could turn into anything, it should be possible to create whatever was needed. He could recreate the item no matter what, so wasn''t this just a waste of the skill?


    "Unless... does the skill also recreate the item effects?" Ryan wondered. If that was the case, then the greatsword should be able to strengthen elemental effects. Of course, that didn''t help much considering that Ryan couldn''t call forth any elemental powers in the first place, but if he managed to somehow learn Maximus'' techniques, then maybe he would be able to make use of this. Though, being made of water, magical water at that, the sword was already dripping in the element of water. Figuratively, of course. The sword''s ice might as well be made of glass, as it wasn''t melting at all.


    Taking a deep breath, Ryan tried to lift the sword. It heavy and with how long it was, it was more than just difficult to actually get it upright. But even so, Ryan tried to swing the sword. It wouldn''t be able to actually do much damage or be much use in a fight this way, but if Ryan was able to increase his Strength stat, he should be able to make use of this. But what was actually important here was that the greatsword gave off a small, minuscule ripple of water energy. If Ryan could control it properly, and more importantly, if he could actually swing this sword, then this could be something amazing in his arsenal.


    But for that, he had to get stronger, first and foremost.


    "Looks like I''ll have to go back to the gym..." Ryan sighed, looking at the sword with a slight grin. With this, maybe he would be able to take a more active role when they went back to the dungeon. After all, Ryan really, really needed to get stronger. He couldn''t just rely on the spirits all the time. He couldn''t just sit down in the back and let them do all the hard work.


    Ryan pulled back the water that made up the greatsword. He should ask Silvia to make him something so that he could keep it on his belt or something, like a sheath so that he could grab it as quickly as he needed to.


    "Gaia, do you need me for anything right now?" Ryan asked, looking over toward the golem. Ryan had doubled her size so that she could work a bit more effectively, and right now she was standing inside of the greenhouse, preparing some new seedlings to plant. Gaia quickly shook her head. She seemed happy to be able to work tonight after all, though Ryan had thought they wouldn''t get back in time.


    He quickly made his way back downstairs to the livingroom, grabbing his tools on the way. Tomorrow was Friday, the day of Mugir, the Great Spirit of the sky. Ryan doubted that they would cancel Mugir''s celebration because of what happened today, but he knew, for a fact, that the White Shadow Society would do everything in their power to double down over the next few days. And as far as Ryan was concerned, the next few days had the most potential for chaos and destruction.


    Before Mugir''s day, wild birds from all around town were gathered, and would be released at the same time around where they were collected. And it was well-known that during these moments, air spirits were often spotted, joining the flocks in their flight. If the shadows corrupted any spirits then, it could lead to chaos all over town.


    Saturday was the day of Porsa, the Great Spirit of Shadows. Large parts of town were darkened through tarps or large-scale magic meant to block out the sun for the day. And then, within the darkness, shadow and light plays were scattered around all over the place. Since there weren''t that many species with innate dark vision, the darkness could be used quite easily to strike fear in people.


    And then there was Sunday, day of Angir, the Great Spirit of Flames. For obvious reasons, Ryan had to do anything he could to prevent the White Shadow Society from using fire to destroy this town. He definitely didn''t believe that they were above doing something like that.


    Ryan had to do anything he could to get stronger. And for that, he first had to increase the amount of spirits that were actually with him. He held out his hand, and a flood of blue mana flowed from his fingertips. It was like blue flames climbing over themselves to reach their destination, forming the box that Ryan was trying to call on.


    After taking a picture of the image on the outside, which depicted a masked harlequin, Ryan quickly opened it up and got started. It seemed like Jester was largely made of cloth. However, there were also some wooden parts that seemed like they would come together into the form of a simple wooden mannequin. It looked like the small sort that Silvia had in her room to use as a reference.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Those were pretty quick to put together. In the small wooden figure''s chest was the space for Jester''s core, which Ryan would put there later. But that wooden base wasn''t the hard part of this model.


    Rather, it seemed like he had to completely sew together the rest of Jester''s body. Ryan had to look up a lot of different clothing patterns to reference for this, but it was actually a lot easier than he thought. Luckily, he didn''t have to actually sew it together fully. As long as he used his needle to press through the two connecting parts of cloth, if they belonged together like this, they would fuse like any other piece would. Otherwise, he was able to just rip them apart again with just a small amount of force.


    He placed the clothes onto the wooden mannequin, including the shoes, gloves, hat, and every other small accessory that Jester was wearing. The last piece was the mask, which he just carefully pressed onto the wooden face, and it quickly fused into place. It was just a simple white, oval mask without anything drawn or carved onto it.


    Ryan pushed Jester''s core into the hole in the wooden torso and quickly closed up the shirt with the needle, and watched as the harlequin''s body began to twist and turn around itself. For a few moments, Ryan thought that it was just the same sort of distortion that happened with the others, but after a few moments, it was clear that this was not the case right now.


    Jester distorted his body on purpose, rolling around on the table. He jumped up into a handstand, putting his entire weight onto just a single finger, moving around as if he was completely weightless. He continued jumping around, doing somersaults, simply enjoying having a body.


    "Come here," Ryan said, looking at the spirit with a slightly annoyed sigh. Quickly, the harlequin did as asked, and jumped in front of Ryan. He quickly bowed to him as thanks, but Ryan didn''t care much for it. He was still quite annoyed, "Just for the record, but if you just ''do your own thing'' the whole time, we''ll have problems. I need you to work together with us so that we can make sure all of you are safe, okay?"


    Jester tilted his head to the side for a moment, but soon quickly nodded his head. Though Ryan wasn''t quite convinced just yet, he figured that it wouldn''t help anyone to doubt Jester for no reason right now. With a slight sigh, he opened the harlequin''s status.


    <hr>


    [Jester]


    [Harlequin | Level - 1]


    [MP - 35]


    [Stats]


    -[Mana - 0.68]


    -[Physicality - 1.07]


    -[Sociability - 1.05]


    -[Spirituality - 0.90]


    -[Stamina - 0.87]


    [Skills]


    -[Harlequin''s Act | Level - 1]


    -[Harlequin''s Excitement | Level - 1]


    -[Harlequin''s Trick | Level - 1]


    <hr>


    Ryan raised a brow. Jester had both Spirituality and Physicality as a base? In the first place, was Harlequin supposed to be a class with mana? Ryan thought it was a class that would just help with physical performances, so Ryan was hoping to be able to use him to scout things or distract enemies, but this seemed much, much better.


    And as he looked at Jester''s first skill, Ryan grew even more convinced that Jester would be a great addition.


    <hr>


    [Harlequin''s Act]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency - 0%]


    [Through the user''s chosen act, a number of different spells can be cast]


    [Effect - Act Dependent]


    <hr>


    "It''s a spellcasting skill!" Ryan exclaimed, jumping up from his chair. Though Ryan and Gaia were both technically ''magic users'', neither of them could actually cast any spells. This was different, however. It seemed at the same level as Maximus'' ''Martial Knowledge'' skill, which allowed him to make use of different stances and weapons properly. As long as Harlequin somehow remembered which acts to use, then he could fill in a massive amount of gaps in the group''s combat pattern right now.


    And the second skill made that even more clear.


    <hr>


    [Harlequin''s Excitement]


    [Level - 1] [Proficiency - 0%]


    [Depending on the level of excitement experienced by the user, their entourage, or the audience, a number of buffs or debuffs will be cast]


    [Effect - Buffs to User and Entourage; Debuffs to Enemies]


    <hr>


    Ryan let out a long groan, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Seriously, couldn''t you have been convinced a bit earlier? These skills are... amazing, I don''t even know what to say."


    It seemed as though Jester was turning out to be the absolutely perfect support. Of course, Ryan didn''t know exactly what the buffs and debuffs would look like, but anything would be helpful. And he figured that the ''party'' that Jester was fighting with made up the entourage mentioned in the skill. At least this all tracked with Jester''s skill.


    Then, there was the last of the three skills. It was a much more powerful skill than what Ryan had seen with the spirits so far.


    "What the- Jester, this is basically an Ultimate Skill, how is this one of your starters?"


    <hr>


    [Harlequin''s Trick]


    [Level] [Proficiency]


    [Allows the user to play off an attack as a trick, completely nullifying it]


    [Effect - Attack Rejection]


    [Cost - Scales with Nullified Attack] [Cooldown - 1 Hour]


    <hr>


    Ryan stared at the skill in disbelief. A skill that could absolutely nullify any attack? It didn''t speak of any limits, so could Jester really ''play off'' anything? And with just a 1 hour cooldown? They definitely had to test that out as soon as they could, though the skill''s cost seemed a bit unclear. How much did it actually scale?


    "Might as well try it out..." Ryan muttered, waving the system windows away before looking at Jester, "What do you say?"


    Quickly, the Harlequin jumped a few steps backward, spreading out his arms as if he was ready to accept whatever Ryan was about to throw at him.


    With a slight grin, Ryan nodded his head. It''s been a while since he properly punched something. Cracking his knuckles, almost by instinct, he approached the edge of the table. With a clean motion, Ryan swung at the small spirit, who was still standing there with both arms stretched out wide. And the moment impact was made, Ryan could basically feel his whole body stop, like all the energy just suddenly left him. It was quite jarring, actually, so it took him a few moments to mentally catch up to it.


    But when Ryan pulled back his hand, he saw Jester standing there with a small pillow in his hands which he had used to ''block'' the attack. The harlequin quickly threw the pillow away, making it disappear in a slight puff of smoke, before he started silently pointing and laughing at Ryan in an exaggerated manner.


    This was more than just ''nullifying''. Ryan''s eyes were on the spirit literally the whole time, so there was no way he could have pulled out a pillow. Plus, nothing had ever changed inside of Jester''s domain, and the pillow was not part of what Ryan had built for him. Jester had basically completely rewritten the reality of what just happened.


    <hr>


    [Cost has been calculated as 29 MP]


    <hr>


    Ryan saw the window pop up briefly, disappearing before he even processed the text. 29 MP for a simple punch like that? Frankly, Ryan didn''t even go at it with his whole strength. What if it was a more powerful or lethal attack, how much would it cost then?


    "Could it go into the negative?" Ryan wondered, muttering to himself. It was definitely possible; Ryan had heard of skills like that. Basically, if a skill ended up costing more mana than the user currently had, then it would go into the negative. Mana would recover at the regular speed, and it didn''t actually cause any negative effects to the user.


    However, because any skill, even those of people with Aura instead of Mana, cost a minuscule amount of MP, something in the realm of 0.001, it would be impossible for a user with negative mana to use any skill whatsoever until their mana recovered above 0 again. Basically, if Jester used this skill on an attack stronger than Ryan''s punch, he would immediately end up losing a massive part of his abilities and would have to rely on his raw physical abilities.


    "Even so... this could be an incomparable trump card."

 119 - Causality

    "... What are you doing?" with a slightly confused stare, Runar looked at his nephew in the livingroom. It was around 4am and Runar was absolutely exhausted after dealing with the aftermath of the attack at the Magic Tower''s expo, so when he finally managed to make his way home, the last thing he expected to see was Ryan doing acrobatics.


    Grinning at his uncle, Ryan glanced over toward the spirit next to him, who he was currently blocking out with his body, "Jester is teaching me some stuff so that I can awaken the physicality stat."


    Runar took a few steps forward, finally seeing the small harlequin doing the same pose that Ryan was doing. The two of them were currently doing what seemed like some form of extreme yoga, pushing their bodies to the limit. Though, while it appeared like the sort of acrobatics you would see in a circus when looking at Jester, for Ryan, it looked more like a child trying to copy that.


    "You managed to complete his quest? What ended up doing the job? Was it meeting Goria that excited him that much?" Runar asked with a slight smile, "Ah, I''m pretty jealous. Even I haven''t met Goria yet. She''s supposed to be ethereally beautiful."


    Ryan raised a brow as he slowly dropped to the ground. He was doing a sort of back bridge where he was basically trying to curl himself up as much as he possibly could, and it wasn''t an easy position to get out of. So, after dropping down, he quickly turned over and stood back up, "Well, Goria was definitely beautiful. Unlike anything I''ve ever seen. But... you''re probably talking about Melusine, not Goria."


    With a scoff, Runar shook his head, "No, no, not Melusine. Why would I be talking about her? It''s not like anyone has seen her before. She''s just Goria''s supposed daughter."


    "She''s not her ''supposed'' daughter, she''s Goria''s eldest daughter, and happens to be the one that''s depicted in all those drawings and statues."


    Laughing, thinking that Ryan was joking, Runar stepped into the livingroom and dropped down onto a chair, "Right."


    "No, I''m serious. They do it like that because people find Goria easier to accept when she looks like that. And I''ll admit, Melusine was probably the most physically attractive person... well, spirit, I''ve ever seen. But she''s not Goria."


    "Mhm. So, what does Goria look like, then?"


    Runar clearly didn''t believe Ryan. It seemed like he was assuming that his nephew was just messing around and joking as he used to, but... to Ryan, they still weren''t at that point again. He wasn''t in the mood to joke around with Runar, so he was just telling it as it was.


    "You know the whale that''s sometimes depicted together with Goria?"


    "Yeah, the colossal beast. Apparently also quite a sight, but-" Runar replied, unsure where Ryan was going with this, but he quickly stopped himself as the realisation kicked in, "No. No, that''s not- You can''t fuck with me like this, that''s not funny."


    Ryan stared at his uncle, "Mhm. Sure, if you say so," he said, walking over to the table. He grabbed the small orb that was laying on there and handed it over to Runar, "Goria called me to give me some items. This is one of them. Basically, it''s supposed to react to nearby water spirit cores, particularly the ''kind'' that I can contract."


    Runar widened his eyes as he took a closer look at the item, "Really? Well, that should be useful."


    "Do you think you can-"


    "Strengthen the item''s effect? Probably. What else did you get?"


    Ryan pointed to his earrings, "These let me breathe and move more freely underwater," he then grabbed the drinking horn also laying on the table. He quickly pulled out a bit of water, making the ice turn into the shape of a baseball bat, "And this does... well, this. It actually links up with Tiar, so I can use the Spirit Armament skill using this horn."


    Curious, and clearly wanting to take a closer look at it, Runar stretched out his hand, "Oh, really? That''s pretty interesting. Can I..?"


    "As long as you give it back, sure. But I really do need it. I have to keep practicing and training," Ryan said, looking over toward Jester who was still waiting for him to continue their practice. Since he took a long enough break, Ryan tried to move on and enter the next pose that should help him a bit with his mobility so that he could gain the physicality stat. But while he was doing so, Runar let out a long, deep sigh.


    "Ryan. You should stay out of all this," he said, and Ryan immediately jumped back up.


    "Excuse me?"


    "Just leave it to us. This is getting far, far too dangerous. Just... support us from back here, from the back lines," Runar started, scratching the back of his head, "You get along amazingly with everyone downstairs, even better than I do a lot of the time. How about you just take over down there, manage the shelter, and let us do the dangerous stuff?"


    Ryan stared at his uncle, opening his mouth to protest, but he couldn''t say anything. He wanted to, but he was physically unable to say that Runar was wrong. That it wouldn''t be better if Ryan stayed back. Hell, he wasn''t even at ''superhuman'' levels yet for even one of his stats. What the hell was he supposed to do? Sure, with Tiar''s help, he had very strong resistance to corruption, but he definitely wasn''t immune.


    "What do I have to do to? For you to let me actually help in a way that matters," Ryan asked, and Runar immediately replied with a groan, "Listen. Just... level up. Get stronger. Hell, do the whole ''Hero'' thing, or something. Yamada is certified as a Hero, and that''s the only reason why we let her act publicly."


    "... Okay. Fine. I''ll level up until I meet the requirements to be a hero, and then-"


    "And then you''ll go through the roster and actually learn how to fight how-powered Awakened. Then, a few years down the line-"If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Wh- A few years? Dude, are you serious? This shit is happening right now. What am I supposed to do to help with that?"


    Ryan stepped up close toward his uncle, trying to get him to understand what the problem was, but Runar really didn''t seem to care, "I''m sorry, but you''re just not strong enough yet. You would just be a burden at this point."


    "But I- I can''t wait for years, man. They hurt my best friends. Both Silvia and Modak could have died because of what they did, and for all I know, it''s my fault anyway, I can''t just-"


    "Wait, wait, what do you mean? How would it be your fault?" Runar asked, not sure if he was following.


    With a long sigh, Ryan rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Listen, that antlered girl, the one that can apparently see fate or whatever. She told me that I break fate, that I mess it all up. So, if I weren''t here, maybe none of this would have ever happened. I mean, I''m the reason why Richie was corrupted in the first place."


    Runar raised his brow, "If I remember correctly, the reason he was corrupted was because that one girl... Vanda, was it? Because she tried to power her robot thingy with a corrupted fragment of Gaia. Rather, if you hadn''t been there, a lot of people could have gotten really, really hurt."


    "Well, sure, but-"


    "And who cares if you''re not properly aligned with fate? If it''s a massive issue, causality will take over and just sort of fix things anyway," Runar pointed out, and Ryan frowned.


    "Causality? What do you..?"


    "Okay, so," Runar let out a long breath, trying to figure out how to best explain the concept, "Basically, causality is like... a restriction imposed by the world onto every single thing. Well, it''s usually only a thing when you enter the domain of the gods or something like that. In simple terms, causality is the world trying to stop a specific cause from creating an unwanted effect. It''s why the Great Spirits can''t just walk around. They''re so powerful that their very presence bends the rules of the world. And so, causality will prevent things. Make sure that things go right again. It''s a separate force compared to fate, but they are very deeply intertwined. So even if you stand outside of fate, even gods are affected by causality, and as long as that is the case... even if your presence causes issues, the world will try to fix it."


    Runar held forward the bead that Ryan had given him, "Just concentrate on this stuff for now. You will become more powerful in time, don''t worry. Just... focus on going into the dungeon to level up more. Since you just built Jester''s body, you should be close to level 11, right? We''re going to make sure that nothing else can happen over the rest of spirit week, okay?"


    "But-"


    "No. Just stop it, you can''t do anything."


    Ryan groaned loudly, "Listen, I know you''re strong, but-"


    "99," Runar interrupted, and Ryan was taken aback and confused.


    "What?"


    "My level. It''s 99. Ryan, I''m not just strong. I''m one level away from reaching max level."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Shooting up from his bed, Modak let out a loud, pained groan. He was completely drenched in sweat, and his head hurt from all the medication he was given earlier. And since most of that medication was starting to wear off by now, Modak''s arm and shoulder were absolutely, totally miserable.


    He tried to reach over to the nearby button and call for a nurse so that he could maybe get new pills, but doing so just made him cramp up even more. At least he always recovered pretty fast when he got hurt. Modak slowly pulled his legs over the edge of the hospital bed and stepped out, walking to the bathroom.


    When he saw himself in the mirror, Modak was almost startled. He looked ghastly. Bruised all over, an arm in a sling. His ribs were cracked and even one of his tusks had been broken off at the tip. The swelling in his face that came from that same attack almost made it impossible to open his eyes properly. If only healing magic had some kind of effect, he could at least go outside without making children cry.


    Modak stared into the mirror. His bloodshot eyes were filling with tears of absolute rage. How dare they ruin such a special day? How dare they trash his technology? How dare they hurt so many good people? And most importantly, how dare they so viciously kill Marge?


    She was one of the most kind and truly good people that Modak had ever met. Her kids were great people too, just a few years older than Modak himself. And they lost their mother because of the White Shadow Society. Just because they, for some inexplicable reason, hated magic? The thing that Modak desired the most for his entire life, just treated as nothing but garbage.


    Modak pulled away from the sink and mirror, and stepped back out of the bathroom. He couldn''t do anything like this, and it would take at least a week for him to recover well enough to go back to work and fix everything that the Shadows ruined. At least, that was the case if Modak just accepted this as the reality he was stuck with.


    During his research, as he prepared to transform the qualities of mana to be more akin to aura, Modak had learned quite a lot. After all, the deal was that the person helping him with this would be allowed to study Modak''s body. Since his constitution completely rejected mana, apparently his body was perfect to house aura instead. He didn''t quite understand the logic behind that, but if that was the case, then maybe he could strengthen his body somehow.


    There were some old scriptures in his colleague''s office that he flipped through during the tests. Things from even before the era of the system. There were stories of people growing incredibly powerful even before the system came to be. It was a lot more rare, of course, and a lot harder, but there were people that were rumoured to be even stronger than the strongest people in this current time.


    Whether that was true was uncertain, of course, but it did still give Modak hope that he could at least gain a grasp of his own physical aura and use it to help his recovery process along.


    He sat down on the ground in a basic meditative position. Modak started by taking deep, long breaths, though those were often interrupted by heavy coughs until he got into a proper rhythm. There was one thing the mana rejection disorder helped him with, and that was the ability to actively sense mana. The sensation of it being pushed out of your body wasn''t the most pleasant, really, so every time there was any sort of injection of mana for a physical exam, Modak learned exactly how it felt.


    And since Aura and Mana were similar enough in their nature, maybe Modak could extend that to try and grasp some minuscule wisps of aura spread throughout his body. After all, according to the tests they had done in the tower, Modak''s body was already filled with a lot of that energy, he just hadn''t had the opportunity to become aware of it yet.


    Breathe in, and breathe out. Before long, Modak found himself falling into routines that his grandmother had taught him. She was super into all sorts of old orcish tradition, and tried to teach a ton of it to Modak when she learned that his body couldn''t hold mana. He never understood why until now.


    In the past, the species of people that stood at the peak of aura were the orcs. Tons of orcish tradition was focused around the physical body. Aura was the force that stemmed from the physical, while Mana stemmed from the spiritual. And if Modak''s grandmother was to be believed, orcs of the past instead used aura to the spiritual, and they believed that using mana to do so was wrong in some way, or was stepping into a domain that people shouldn''t touch. Tough Modak wasn''t quite sure about those parts of it, he figured that following those old orcish methods wouldn''t be the worst idea for him to try and learn how to manipulate his aura.


    Breath after breath, Modak fell deeper into a meditative state. He tried to stop thinking about everything else, which was actually the hardest part for him. Instead, Modak tried to focus on his own body as much as he could. The sensation of hot blood flowing into his wounds, the uncomfortable pulsating and pressure that he could feel as his body tried to heal.


    Bit by bit, Modak tried to grow closer to his own aura.

 120 - Trying to Help

    Deep breaths were pulled in, and were then pushed out. In and out, in and out. Modak''s breathing became more and more stable as he managed to push through the pain that he was feeling. His broken ribs weren''t really making all this easier, either, and in the beginning he fell into coughing fits a lot. But by now, he figured out the limits of his body the way it currently was and found a good niche to fit into.


    In this meditative rhythm, Modak tried to control his thoughts. Though, it wasn''t that he wouldn''t be thinking of anything at all; that was completely unrealistic for him. Instead, he focused on the actual things that were going on with his body. The breathing and the pressure of the ground pushing against his bottom, and of course the pain of his injuries. All this was constant and predictable, and by focusing on these things, Modak managed to get into a good spot.


    If those old orcish teachings were to be believed, then this should be the beginning of him becoming aware of his own natural aura. After all, just like mana, aura was a force that every being with a physical body possessed. It was just a matter of how much, what the quality of that aura was, and how aware of it you were. Some people that gained this awareness compared it to being able to feel the blood flow through your veins. Not feeling your heartbeat, but the actual flow of the blood. While it sounded a bit ridiculous, Modak was sure that it would be an accurate description.


    While mana flowed through the body along something called ''mana circuits'', aura flowed along the blood vessels. So becoming aware of your aura was basically the same as becoming aware of your blood. And what better time was there to become aware of your own blood than when it was trying to leak out of every corner of your body?


    The pain of his injuries slowly guided Modak toward his own heartbeat. Modak tried to focus on his breathing as much as he did on his heart. At some point, it even started to feel like his heartbeat influenced the shaking of his breath. And just when Modak started to feel a bit of the heat at the centre of his heart, something woke him up.


    "Modak! What are you doing down there, get up!" an almost shrill voice called out to him, and he was immediately pulled out of his meditative state. A wave of pain flowed over him as everything that he had blocked out seemed to assault him all at once.


    His mother pulled on his arm, of course his uninjured one, to try and pull him onto his legs. Modak just looked at her with a frown, "What are you doing here? I thought you don''t think I deserve the blood flowing through my veins."


    As he pulled his arm away, Modak slowly stood up, and his mother clicked her tongue, followed by a slight hit to his arm, "Don''t talk to me that way! I''m still your mother!"


    "Mhm."


    Modak sat down on the edge of the hospital bed as his mother took one of the chairs right beside it. Completely naturally, she set herself up for the day.


    "So you don''t have anything else to say?" he asked, and Modak''s mother looked at him a bit baffled.


    "What are you talking about?"


    "You''re not going to apologize? You''re not even going to acknowledge what you said literally right before one of the most important moments of my life?"


    Modak''s mother looked at him, clearly more upset at being spoken to like this than apologetic for her own behaviour, "You must have misunderstood me, I never said anything bad to you like that."


    "Are you-" Modak stopped himself, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Listen, mom. I''m moving out."


    The only thing that came as a response was a loud laugh, "Right, of course, and with what money do you think you''ll be paying for an apartment in New Riverside?"


    With a long sigh, Modak leaned against the stack of pillows behind him, "You know I work for the magic tower, right? I''m a team lead. I already quit my job at the store, as well," Modak explained. And of course, that wasn''t even mentioning that he was apparently going to get paid for being Ryan''s aide once everything went through on the Aglecard side of things. Incredibly well, at that. Modak couldn''t just afford a small studio apartment, he could afford an actual, comfortable, large space with a bedroom, office, and whatever else he needed just for himself, in a building that was actually accessible for not just orcs, but also minotaurs. He could actually invite over his girlfriend without worry about her horns getting stuck on doorways or scraping against the ceiling.


    "Come on, now, stop being silly. Your younger brothers all need you around, or are you just going to leave them behind?"


    Modak frowned, "Don''t say stuff like that, you know I would do anything for them. It''s not like I''d live hours away. I''m happy to have them come over whenever they want, I can watch them after school and help them with their homework, as long as I don''t have work or classes then. But I need to move out."


    "You don''t need to do anything at all, you just want to leave!" his mother protested, and Modak rolled his eyes.


    "Yes, I do. I want to live on my own. I can afford it. So... I''m leaving. I''m looking for a new place as soon as I''m out of the hospital," he explained. He wouldn''t be able to live his life while still living with his parents. Not only did he feel constant pressure from every side, but he had absolutely no privacy. It felt like every time he was home, he had to do something for his parents or siblings, and it wasn''t that he hated doing things for them, but he just barely had any time for himself. And with what his parents said to him yesterday? Everything just boiled over.


    Upset, Modak''s mother got all of her things together again, stuffing them into her bag. She rushed out of the hospital room, and just as she left, someone else stepped inside. Yanna.


    "Uh... is everything okay?" she asked Modak nervously, and he slowly nodded his head.


    "Yeah, it''s fine. I just told her I''m moving out and... well, my mom can be a bit dramatic," he explained with an awkward smile.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Yanna was a bit taken aback, "Wait, really? Are you sure?"


    "Yeah, I... I think so. It''ll be good for me."


    Though the minotaur was worried about him, she just silently nodded her head. If this was Modak''s decision, then she would fully support him in this. Knowing what she knew about his family dynamics, it wasn''t the worst idea either, as far as she was concerned.


    "Alright. I''ll help you find a place then. Oh, and before I forget... Ryan called you last night while you were sleeping. I told him you would call him back when you''re awake."


    Modak raised his brow, taking his phone, "Right, I need to let him know about some stuff. I''ll call him in a second. And after that, do you think you could do me a favour?"


    Surprised, Yanna nodded, "Of course, what do you need? Do you want me to get you something? Here, I already brought you some books and some snacks," she explained, quickly pulling a few things out of her bag. Modak smiled at her.


    "Thank you, but no, that''s not what I mean. Do you think you could... and I know this is going to sound a bit weird, but... could you push some of your aura into me?"


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Silvia was sitting in front of her television. Reports about what happened at the expo yesterday were the only thing that any news channel was showing. Of course; it was a terrible tragedy of a sort that the city hasn''t seen before. Spirits attacked people viciously and without reason. Instances where spirits attacked people did appear, but those were usually cases of self-defence. Or, for example, if a lake was being polluted, a spirit born from that lake could attack the people doing the polluting. And usually that didn''t even end in death, but was just a way to stop whatever damage was being done.


    But this was different. As far as anyone could tell, nobody had done anything that could offend the spirits that went on a rampage, and definitely not enough to make them so violently tear apart the victim.


    Of course, there were some more fringe news channels trying to paint the victim, Marge, as some kind of sicko that deserved to be killed like this, but Silvia knew that couldn''t be the case. Modak has been talking about her like she was some kind of saint. This was most definitely a case of the spirits having been corrupted. It already looked like some smaller celebrations were being cancelled, and the big ones would probably see less people today. The idea that spirits could be violent like this was clearly worrying a lot of people, exactly as the White Shadow Society wanted.


    "I need to... I need to do something to help," Silvia said to herself. Her class was a ''production'' class. When it came to something like combat, she was a supportive role.


    Was there a way for her to help out in combat? With her ''Artist''s Gallery'' skill, she could basically store away some of the art she made. If she was able to be there, in the background, and then give the others whatever art they needed while things were going on... maybe she could help strengthen everyone a bit.


    "But for that, my art needs to be good enough to be useful... What would be useful in the middle of a fight?" Silvia wondered, biting her nails. Right now, she wasn''t able to do a ton yet. She was able to strengthen items to a small degree, and she could influence emotion through things she painted. At least at the moment, Silvia wasn''t able to give buffs just through paintings, and swapping out items in the middle of a fight didn''t sound useful enough to justify being there. If she followed Ryan around, he would need to protect her.


    "Think... what is it that Ryan mentioned he needs right now? Something that I can give him that will help him in a fight? I can''t just sit here and do nothing..." she muttered, taking notes on a piece of paper with whatever came to mind. Which was when she thought of something. A paper airplane. Silvia had made one before, and using her skills, it flew pretty far. Rather, it could have flown for much longer if it hadn''t hit Ryan. And that was just something she drew without thought.


    What if Silvia could make Ryan something that he could just throw into the air, and use it to fly around the area, maybe distracting or luring enemies? In that case, Silvia would just be able to prepare a stack of paper for him, and then he could throw one into the air and it would fly away and do its thing.


    But for that, Silvia would need a few more things... For one, an image of something ''distracting'' or ''luring'', something that would force dungeon monsters or even thoughtless people to pay attention to it. Plus, it would need a way for Ryan to actually control it. Would Silvia be able to push all of those things into a single drawing, on a piece of paper?


    "... I guess I just have to try."


    Immediately, Silvia grabbed her drawing supplies, and started sketching a few things on a piece of paper. Silvia just had to do something.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan stared at the screen in front of him, doing some more in-depth research on something.


    Reaching the peak of the levelling system is not something done easily. Rather, at any one time, there are only a handful of individuals that have reached this point. The power they hold is almost insurmountable in their respective categories, and that is not even counting in the special benefits that are awarded by the system when one reaches that point.


    The stats, skills, and experience gathered by the individual alone are enough to make them a power that can threaten the stability of a given nation.


    "... Nothing new. Do you guys know anything about max level?" Ryan asked, looking over to the side. Jester was sitting on top of a pillow on his bed, just relaxing, while Maximus was right next to Ryan on the desk, reading along. The two spirits locked eyes for a moment, and then shook their head. However, Maximus stood up and traced a small symbol on the back of Ryan''s hand.


    "A star? What do you mean?" he asked, but Maximus just shrugged. With a loud groan, Ryan leaned back in his chair, "Gods... seriously? Fucking amnesia... Dad, why couldn''t you have just... not done this to them? Urgh..."


    Ryan had been trying to find something new about max level for a while now. He had, of course, read up on it a lot before, but that was always just mindless browsing and not actual deep research. He wanted to understand the implications of becoming max level more. After Runar told him that he was level 99, Ryan wasn''t able to protest anymore. Someone that powerful had to be able to take care of this all on their own, and Ryan would just get completely in the way if he tried to do something. But there was something more. Some other reason as to why Runar hadn''t told him about his level before.


    Of course, Ryan had considered that Runar just wanted to keep it a secret to ensure that this couldn''t spread to enemies, but that didn''t feel right. There was surely something more connected to being max level that Runar knew, that he didn''t tell Ryan yet. Somewhere on the internet, there had to be a clue as to why becoming max level was so special. And how was it related to stars?


    Ryan stared at the screen, trying to think of something, but no matter what, nothing came of it. He was just stuck somewhere. And that was when a great distraction came through. Ryan''s phone rang, and the moment he saw the caller ID, he picked up.


    "Modak! Are you alright? How is your arm?" he asked, feeling his heart almost jump out of his chest in anxiety, but Modak just laughed on the other side.


    "Don''t worry, man, I''m alright. Physically, at least... yesterday was pretty fucking insane. Do you know if they''re going to try anything else?"


    Ryan sighed, exhausted, "I don''t know, maybe? Probably? Runar is out trying to stop anything else from happening, and I guess he''ll do a good job. But... we''ll see. At this point, there''s nothing we can really do, I think."


    The other side of the call was silent for a few moments. Modak clearly wasn''t happy with that, "Okay, I''m going to ask you something insane right now, and I want you to just wait until I explain it before you freak out."


    Nervous, Ryan responded, "Uh... sure? What''s up?"


    "Can I go into a dungeon with you?"

 121 - Hospital Visit (End of Book 2)

    Ryan stepped into the hospital room, seeing four people already in there. Of course there was Modak, who was sitting upright in bed, and right next to him stood Yanna. On the chairs next to the bed were Silvia and Fae, who had also come to visit them together.


    He did the rounds and greeted everyone with a hug, but was quickly met with some curious stares from everyone but Fae. She was the only one that didn''t know about Ryan having been invited to see Goria. And it really didn''t surprise Ryan that the others were extremely curious about what happened.


    "So? How was it?" Silvia asked, leaning forward until she almost fell out of bed. Ryan scratched the back of his head, trying to hold in a yawn.


    "Fine, but honestly just exhausting as hell," he explained, "But it was enough for me to increase my stamina a bit, so it was pretty worth it."


    "That''s it? You just got a few stamina points?" Modak asked, staring at his friend with a raised brow, and Ryan sighed.


    "No, I did get a few more things. Some magic items, hold on," Ryan explained, pulling his bag off his back. Meanwhile, Fae was looking around confused.


    "Uhm... What''s going on? Where did Ryan go?" she pointed out, and Silvia looked at her girlfriend with a grin.


    "Oh, not much. He just went to meet Goria. You know, the Great Spirit of Water? Yeah, no big deal," she said smugly.


    Ryan scoffed as he glanced at her, "Why are you acting like it''s something you did?"


    Surprised, and confused that everybody else was just believing this clearly unbelievable news, Fae stared at Ryan, "Hold on, what? You... you went to meet with Goria? Seriously? But... you''re just, like, a guy, right?"


    "That... I mean... You''re not wrong, but the way you said it sounded a bit insulting," Ryan finally pulled the drinking horn out of his bag, "I ended up helping out a spirit at the lake the other day, when everyone just sort of plummeted down and stuff, and Goria invited me afterward. I went through... someone I know, and we got in contact with Goria''s acolytes, and they helped me get down there. But I basically had to walk down some stairs for a few hours... I started toward the top of the mountains in the Falls, and had to walk down to some reservoir under oldtown. So, a pretty long way."


    "... Seriously?" Fae asked, looking around the room. Both Modak and Silvia confidently nodded their heads, though Yanna also wasn''t perfectly convinced yet. But it seemed as though Ryan had something to at least help the two of them along to believing him a bit more.


    He took a deep breath, and some water flowed out of the horn''s opening. It climbed on top of itself, freezing along the way, until it took on the shape of a baseball bat. Then, the ice melted and reshaped itself into the form of a sword, and then a shield, and then a shovel and pickaxe, all within a matter of moments, "This item is called the ''Horn of Shapeless Water''. As you can see, it''s pretty sick."


    "Whoa, wait, how does that-" Modak stared at the shaped piece of ice curiously, almost jumping off the bed to take a closer look. But the moment he moved just a bit too fast, he cramped up and pulled his arms down to his ribs, "Ah, fucking-"


    "Take it easy, dude," Ryan said, walking over to the orc to show him the horn more closely, "Basically, I just push my mana inside and think of the shape that I want it to have. The horn sorta does the rest."


    Modak grabbed the horn and took a closer look, running his fingers over all the little grooves. He was basically analysing it, as Ryan continued, "I also got these earrings that are pretty neat. They let me breathe underwater and stuff. It feels a bit weird, like, for the first few moments it kind of feels like you''re drowning but then your mind catches up to what''s happening and then it''s all good."


    "Did you just say it feels like drowning? How do you know what drowning feels like?" Yanna asked with a slight laugh, though she quickly stopped herself and snapped her head toward Silvia, who shook her head with a smile. Silvia mouthed, ''Don''t worry'' toward her, grinning broadly.


    As she breathed a sigh of relief, Ryan continued, "Well, I don''t think that''s important right now. The last item is something related to finding cores of other spirits connected to water in some way. I gave it to someone to have it strengthened into something so we can search a larger area."


    As he explained this, Modak and Silvia stared at him confused. He just said that in front of two people who had no idea about the whole ''fragment'' business, and Ryan already knew what they were worried about.


    "Guys, don''t worry. I decided that I''m not going to keep my own business a secret anymore. I won''t say anything that''ll put others in danger though," he explained, and as the orc and elf calmed down for a moment, Ryan proceeded to fill Yanna and Fae in on some parts related to his class. Not everything, of course. He basically kept out anything that was directly related to the Aglecards or the people living in hiding in this world. Really, he just stuck to the things that he felt like he should be allowed to talk freely about. Runar might complain, but Ryan didn''t care anymore.


    "... Is that what that whole weirdness was about? Like, why that girl yelled at Silvia and I? It seemed like you guys knew something about it, but..." Fae asked, and Ryan quickly nodded.


    "Yup. It sounds like I''m kind of messing up a few things here and there, but in the end, I don''t think it matters too much," he said, though he was trying to convince himself with that as well. Runar had told him that whole thing about ''Causality'', but it was still pretty tough to accept that Ryan was apparently messing with the fate of everyone he interacted with. Of course, Ryan hadn''t said that in specific detail. For example, he didn''t explain that Ryan apparently acted completely outside of fate, and just said that he somehow skewed things a bit. Maybe it was lying, but he also didn''t want to drag Yanna and Fae into all of this. He already felt guilty that Silvia and Modak were part of this world now.


    Yanna rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Honestly, this is all... a little much to keep track of. So... your class isn''t a unique class at all?"


    Stolen novel; please report.


    "Not really. I mean, only one person with it can exist at a time, so it''s kind of unique? But no, I''m not the first one that had this class."


    "And you''re supposed to go around and find all these cores scattered around by the last Spirit Keeper?"


    "Mhm," Ryan nodded, "It''s going to take a while, but it''s what I''ve got to do. And for that, I''ve got to get stronger. I''ll probably head back into a dungeon soon."


    As he said so, Ryan glanced over toward Modak. The orc flinched at the mention of the word ''dungeon''. For the rest of the conversation, he was quite tense, as if he was waiting for the right opportunity to speak up. Realizing that Modak was clearly too nervous to ask, Ryan did so for him.


    "Yanna, Fae, I''ve got something to talk about with Modak and Silvia, would you guys mind to step out for a little bit?" he asked, and the two of them were a bit surprised.


    "Huh? Oh, uh..." Yanna looked over at Modak, who slowly nodded his head. Fae also looked at Silvia for approval, and though she seemed a bit confused, not knowing what this was about either, she also asked Fae to leave for a bit.


    "In that case... Fae, want to go grab a bite to eat? The cafeteria is actually pretty good here," Yanna suggested, and with a smile, Fae nodded her head.


    "Sure, let''s go."


    And so, the two made their way out of the room, and the moment the door closed, Ryan pulled something else out of his bag. It was the small metal pyramid that was used to create a space for private conversations, and Ryan quickly put it onto the foot end of the hospital bed before activating it.


    The moment that was done, Silvia looked at Ryan, "Okay, what''s going on? Why did you just... tell them all of that."


    Ryan smiled at the elf, "Because I decided not to keep secrets like that anymore. But, more importantly..." he looked over at Modak, who seemed to already be trying to find the right words, "Did Modak tell you about his genius idea?"


    "Uhh... No? What''s going on?" she asked. Modak took a deep breath and closed his eyes.


    "I told Ryan that I want to go into a dungeon with him. I know that it''s stupid, and I know that it''s really dangerous, but apparently combat is the best way for an orc to become aware of their own aura, and I-"


    "Me too," Silvia said bluntly, "I also want to come into the dungeon."


    Ryan stared at the elf, taken aback, "Excuse me? Silvia, you''re a- you''re a production class, you''re not made for fighting."


    "So? Then just let me support you from the backlines. If I can see you in actual combat, then I should be able to make better items to help you in combat later on, right?" Silvia pointed out, and Ryan let out a long, deep groan, thinking.


    "... Okay, well... At the very least, it would be useful to bring Silvia for the gift shop items, and if she stays in the back... maybe it would be okay?" Ryan was practically thinking out loud, looking over at Modak, "But actually participating in a fight? I''ve never seen you even try to swat a fly, man."


    "I know, but... listen, I explained it to you on the phone, right? There''s so much stuff going on around us now that we''re just involved in, and it''s dangerous. And, because of my MRD, my body is perfectly attuned for aura. Things like aura and mana existed since long before the system came about, and there''s plenty of mages that act without the system, even if they have less power than Awakened mages, so..."


    "Right, right, I get it..." Ryan closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. Modak was immensely helpful and knew how to handle himself back when the robot with Gaia''s fragment went berserk. Really, he ended up saving Ryan''s ass big time. He crossed his arms and thought intensely, "Alright, but I''m only taking you under a few very specific conditions."


    Silvia and Modak immediately nodded their heads, and Ryan started, "First, you two have to listen to me. If I tell you to pull back, you pull back. If I tell you to hide, you hide. I''m getting better at team-play now, so I promise you, if I say something, even if you don''t know why I''m saying it, I know better, okay?"


    The two quickly agreed, "Second. You''re both going to be equipped with decent armour and weapons. Modak, if you''re saying that you want to ''realize your aura'' or something, I''m guessing you have to fight against enemies directly. So, think deeply about exactly how you want to fight, and then tell me, and we''ll have the production crew make you what you need," he started, and then quickly turned to Silvia, "And you, you''re going to learn how to handle a mana-powered gun. Again, since you don''t have any combat-related skills, you won''t be joining combat, but you need to be able to handle yourself. Got it?"


    "Yessir," Modak and Silvia quickly saluted to Ryan, who just let out a long sigh.


    He was a bit worried, looking at them, "Guys, seriously, I''m not kidding. Dungeons are dangerous. Really, really dangerous. I nearly died in my first dungeon. You can only come with me if you''re totally, absolutely serious about this."


    "I''m super serious! I''ve been thinking about what to do to help you out more, since you know, I haven''t really been doing a ton despite being your ''aide'', and I came up with something great!"


    Silvia pushed her hand into the middle of the air and soon did a motion as if pulling something from a wall. As she did, a piece of paper magically materialized in her hands, and she quickly handed it to Ryan, "Here!"


    Ryan looked at the paper. On it was a drawing of a dove with its wings stretched out, flying over vast clouds.


    "Uh... So what''s this?" he asked, since he couldn''t feel anything from this drawing. He knew there was something magical going on here, but there was no apparent effect. Silvia grinned broadly, "Just throw it in the air for a moment and see."


    Not sure what to think, Ryan just did as told. As he did, the sheet of paper immediately started folding itself up into the shape of a complex origami dove. It landed on the bed, perching on top of the metal pyramid. It tilted its head left and right, looking at Ryan curiously.


    Immediately, Ryan stared at Silvia, "Wait, you can do this sort of thing?" he asked, and she grinned smugly.


    "Yup! Spent all day observing different birds, and this is the best one so far!" she explained happily, and Ryan smiled lightly as he held his hand forward toward the paper dove. It quickly hopped onto his finger.


    "This is impressive. Do you think I could take the rest of them down to the folks in the hidden village? Just to set free a few ''birds''?" Ryan asked, and Silvia quickly nodded.


    "Sure! They don''t last super long, and most of them are pretty clunky, but... it might still be pretty!"


    Ryan looked up from the dove and back to Silvia, "So, what''s the point of this? It''s cool, but I don''t know how helpful it would be."


    Silvia smiled awkwardly, "That''s the part I still need to figure out. I''d like to try and let you connect to it like you do to the spirits, so you can control it and maybe see through its eyes or something like that. That way you could do recon or distract enemies and stuff."


    Ryan widened his eyes, "That... would actually be really damn helpful, yeah. You know what, let''s give that a shot, maybe try to level up your insight and art skills to level 10, and maybe reach level 10 overall so you could get a new class that could help with that sort of thing," he suggested, and Silvia immediately agreed. In this group, Ryan was the expert in terms of classes, skills, and everything system-related, after all.


    "But won''t that take a while? Do we have that time? The White Shadow Society is acting right now right?" Modak pointed out, and Ryan scratched the back of his head.


    "Yeah, but... Runar said I should stay out of all that for now until I''m stronger. He''ll take care of the imminent stuff... And though it''s really annoying, I do have to admit that I can''t really help with stuff at the scale he''s working right now," Ryan groaned loudly, looking to the side, "But even if we could, it''s not like we can actually go right away anyway."


    Silvia looked at Ryan, tilting her head slightly, "Huh? Why not?"


    Modak smiled wryly, "I mean, my arm and ribs are broken, so it''s not like I can fight right now."


    "Ah... yeah, okay, that''s fair, I forgot about that."


    Ryan narrowed his eyes, looking at his friends, "I... I know you guys also have a ton going on right now, so you might have forgotten, but you do know that class is starting again on Monday, right?"

 122 - Shadow Play

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    Ryan walked into the hidden village with a smile and a stack of papers in his hand. It was a prototype that Silvia had been working on to help Ryan scout out the area around him, and though it would still take a while to be fully completed, these test versions were a great tool to do something else entirely.


    He smiled and approached the centre of the small village, and was immediately surrounded by a large group of people. Over the past few days, with the exception of yesterday for obvious reasons, Ryan had come here every evening to let the people down here experience spirit week. Though, to make up for yesterday, it seemed like they had set up some projectors down here and just made it a sci-fi movie night for everyone to enjoy together while Ryan was out. Since most of the people down here had to make do without access to things like the television or internet, that was still pretty special to them.


    But today, Ryan wanted to do something a bit more special, something that was a lot more in line with what a Spirit Week celebration was supposed to be. According to Silvia, each of the sheets of paper already had enough mana in them to activate on their own. They were supposed to just fly around for a while, and once they ran out of mana, their bodies would stop working.


    It might be a little sad to see them just turn into paper figures right after they were moving, but Ryan was sure that it wouldn''t be too much of an issue for the people here. Everyone that lived down here had a much deeper, innate understanding of magic than Ryan did.


    "Is everyone here?" Ryan asked, looking around, and judging from the crowd size, it seemed like all the people that were going to come had gathered around him. With a smile on his face, he said, "In that case... today is fairly simple, but I do still hope you enjoy yourselves!"


    With that, Ryan threw up the sheets of paper, and in front of everyone''s eyes, they crumpled or folded themselves, taking on the shape of different birds. Most of them were doves and pigeons, but there were a few that looked like crows or finches. At the very least, they were all able to fly, though some of them moved more smoothly than others.


    Some of the birds didn''t even flap their wings and just flew around in circles, while others actually looked quite life-like, though they moved in rather jarring ways. But none of that really mattered to the people down here. It had been far too long since any of them had seen a bird flying around, and Ryan smiled, though he was really just suppressing his bitterness.


    Mugir was the Great Spirit of the Sky; he shouldn''t be celebrated by staring at the ceiling of a cave, but by bathing underneath a blanket of clear blue and fluffy white.


    ''Next year... next year, I promise that Spirit Week is going to be better for you all,'' Ryan thought to himself. He didn''t really have a ton of time to prepare for this Spirit Week, but if he spent the next year even just casually planning proper celebrations for everyone, especially with the help of the spirits that were with him, he should be able to make something special for everyone that was left behind down here.


    "That''s not all, though!" Ryan explained, quickly rushing over into one of the nearby buildings, Runar''s office. He brought out a stack of kites with him and handed them out, especially to the kids. It didn''t seem like they had a lot of chances to fly kites before, so this might be especially exciting for them.


    "Runar placed some wind runes on each of them, so they can fly on their own, even down here," Ryan explained as he handed them out, "Just throw them into the air, and they should start flying. But be careful not to run into anyone! And make sure to share, alright?" he said, and the young kids looked up at him with bright, beaming smiles, nodding their heads as they ran off.


    Ryan watched as everyone here enjoyed themselves. Smiling, laughing, crying in relief... seeing everyone here so emotional made Ryan feel just the same. This is what he wanted to do. This is how he wanted to help people, since he still didn''t have the power to fight for them otherwise.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Oh, and could I buy one of those lamps? Yeah, exactly, one of those," Ryan smiled, and the employee quickly brought it over to him. It was an old-looking lantern, clearly enchanted with special magic. There were plenty of them placed around this town today, celebrating the day of the Great Spirit of Shadows, Porsa. When a candle was lit within them, wisps of light would appear in an area around them, flying around like a swarm of fireflies.


    Ryan''s mother looked him over the shoulder as he grabbed the lantern, asking curiously, "What are you planning on doing with that?" and Ryan just smiled awkwardly.


    "Well, it''s for later tonight. We can''t turn off the luminescent crystals in the caves, so we''ll wait until night time and then start a celebration. I even convinced Maximus to do a small show with his flame sword-arts," he explained. Mary looked at her son with a soft smirk, proudly patting his shoulder as the two walked out of the shop.


    "That''s wonderful, Ryan," she said, as the two of them joined back up with the others outside. Liam was standing there, looking around with wide open eyes. Of course, the day of Porsa was one of the few days that he was able to walk around without lathering on layers of special sunscreen or wearing thick clothes. On especially sunny days, Liam even had to walk around with a parasol, though it embarrassed him quite a lot.


    That was why today was such a great day for him. He could just walk around freely without worrying about things like that. After all, the entire part of town here was covered in large tarps that were blocking out every bit of sunlight that could shine through. Instead, the area was illuminated by lanterns or magic, and at basically every street corner, you could see people doing shadow plays.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Look, over there!" Liam exclaimed, pointing at the middle of the street which had been blocked off so people could walk there. Walking through a crowd of people was a young giant woman, wearing a dress that was glowing brightly, shining light onto everything around here. This was one of the big traditions all over Riveria. It happened even back in Ryan''s hometown, where people were dressed up in luminescent robes to walk around town while it was dark. It always gave some kind of ethereal vibe to Ryan. These days, beside the one that took on the official position for these events, especially kids liked to run around with glowing clothes, though they were usually just made with regular glow-in-the-dark materials, rather than that sort of magical light.


    With a slight grin, Ryan looked at that giant woman walking past him. Maybe he could prepare something similar for everyone in the hidden village. Though, those kind of clothes weren''t easy to get, especially not the day of. They were usually tailor-made as well, so there weren''t any shops that just sold ready-to-wear clothes like that. Plus, Runar wasn''t very likely to be at home right now; he''s been out ever since Ryan spoke to him yesterday morning. And Silvia wouldn''t be able to prepare something that fast either.


    As Ryan walked through the roads with his mother and Liam, he kept on finding small knick-knacks that seemed like they would be great to bring back. And then, after buying some kind of small glowing toy, he noticed that Jester was getting pretty excited about something. He seemed to be particularly interested in something that was happening just a few steps away; one of the shadow plays.


    An Aktorione was using her four arms to make complex shapes on her own that wouldn''t usually be possible without help. A pretty large crowd of kids had gathered around her, watching what was happening in front of them.


    ''Do you want to watch?'' Ryan asked him, but Jester quickly shook his head. Rather, he seemed to want to do something else entirely. A little curious, Ryan let Jester out of his domain, and the spirit basically leapt toward the stage. The Aktorione was currently setting up for another part of the shadow play, and instead, Jester jumped in front of the light shining against the canvas. And from the front, where the kids were sitting, you could see a quite mysterious display. Shapes that were definitely not possible if this were just regular shadow play were being shown.


    A whole shadow landscape with a castle and even waving blades of grass in the front. A knight on horseback riding past the road, approaching a castle with a massive dragon coiled around a half-crumbling tower. And at the top, a princess was yelling out for help. It was a classic story. And Ryan could see a few other things infused into the shadows as well; they were shimmering with a shifting blue colour that was moving between different shades. When Ryan peeked behind the canvas, he could only see a surprised aktorione watching what was happening, and a tiny harlequin making simple shapes with his hands that threw impossible shadows.


    Without hesitation, Liam jumped forward to watch the shadow play with bright eyes. If he were any more excited, he would probably end up lighting up the darkness around him unintentionally.


    Ryan''s mother looked at him a bit confused, "He can do things like that?"


    Ryan smiled, "It''s probably one of his spells. I imagine he has quite the range," he explained, quickly walking around the play''s setup and walking up to the aktorione in charge, "Sorry about that. He''s a contracted spirit, and he tends to get pretty, uhm... excited about stuff."


    The aktorione laughed and shook her head, "Don''t worry, as long as the kids are enjoying themselves, I don''t mind. But that sure is a unique-looking spirit."


    Trying to avoid her asking too much about him, Ryan laughed it off, "Yeah, he''s unique in a lot of ways. Uhm... by the way... is that a special type of canvas? Or will any kind do?"


    Curious, the aktorione crossed her arms, "They''re not special, they just need to let through light. And the light itself needs to be strong enough. If you want to do this stuff in your own time, you need to make sure that no other light can bounce around and mess with the clean shadows thrown onto the canvas."


    Ryan laughed, "Thanks, I guess it was pretty obvious, huh? I''ve got some friends that are stuck at home today, so I figured I''d do something special for them. Do you know of a place where I could buy one of those canvases around here?"


    "There''s a shop around the corner, actually. If you just want to do a small private show, don''t let yourself be upsold," she advised, and Ryan nodded his head. He thanked her and quickly returned back to his mother, so that they could wait for Jester to be satisfied with the play. But as he got back to her, Mary seemed almost shocked.


    "You''ve... gotten quite social since you came here, haven''t you?" Mary pointed out, and Ryan smiled awkwardly.


    "I guess so. One of my stats is ''sociability'', so that''s just part of it, I guess," he explained, "Usually, when I would talk to people I don''t know, my mind would sort of fog up a bit, so I would try to do everything I can to get out of that as quickly as possible, but it''s gotten a lot better since I awakened. I don''t feel as uncomfortable talking to others anymore. Maybe it also just has something to do with the fact that I''m never really alone anymore."


    Mary smiled, and gave Ryan a slight side-hug. She was just so happy to hear this.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan hooked up the light to the generator''s plug and tested it out. The light from the crystals at the top of the cave was starting to dim, so it would be time to get started with Porsa''s celebrations soon.


    People were starting to gather in front of the small stage, and Jester was excitedly waiting to start as well. However, since it was still too bright to really do a proper shadow play, it would still take a little while. In the meantime, Ryan made sure that everything else was properly set up. The Geodes in particular were more than happy to help out with that. Porsa was the Great Spirit of Shadows, so he represented a special relationship between light and darkness. It seemed like the Geodes, who communicated through pulses of light, enjoyed this day by far the most because of this. They were already a lot more ''talkative'' than usual, and their bodies'' light was illuminating the area in beautiful ways. Really, Ryan hoped that he would be able to talk to all of them soon... they seemed like real special fellas.


    Rather, everyone down here seemed pretty damn nice, though there was probably a reason for that. This was not the only hiding spot in New Riverside, so some of the others might hold some more shady folk. According to Silvia''s father, there were plenty of Vampires that illegally attacked and trafficked others to be able to feed on their blood, and Ryan was sure that they weren''t the only troublemakers around. If a species was nothing but purely kind, there would be little to no reason to keep them hidden. But with just a few bad apples, the entire batch can seem rotten.


    The White Shadow Society would surely try to take advantage of the fact that some of these hidden people committed crimes to be able to survive in this world, so that was probably why the Aglecards were trying to introduce them slowly but surely into society to let everyone acclimate to each other and prevent friction. It was frustrating to watch everyone down here suffer while that was happening, though.


    Frankly, many of these people might not even be around anymore by the time they, as a species, were allowed to live under the sky instead of the crystal ceiling. Ryan was sure that there was another way to help them, but he was also just a 19 year old, freshly awakened nobody that has only been part of this world for a little over a month, so there was no way he could just change how all of this worked right away.


    The only thing that he could do right now was give them a shadow play to watch.

 123 - Surveillance

    Jumping around, doing somersaults, flips, and all sorts of seemingly random movements, Jester was throwing his shadow onto the canvas in front of him. Now that he was able to get a closer look at it, Ryan realized just how amazing what the spirit was doing really was.


    He was wearing relatively loose clothes that were waving around, catching the light from the spotlight that Ryan had set up. The spirit''s entire body was cloaked in a small layer of those shifting blue flames; Jester''s mana. This was one of his ''acts'', basically a spell of his. And through this spell, the shadows he was throwing were being distorted so that he could tell the story that he wanted. To Ryan, the story really didn''t matter much, he was more curious about what exactly Jester was doing with his magic right now.


    In front of the harlequin, within the shadows pointing away from him, wisps of flames were filling the empty space, but they weren''t providing any light. Rather, nobody beside Ryan would be able to see this anyway.


    When someone used skills, their eyes took on the qualities of their mana, such as colour and texture. But beside that, other people were unable to see someone''s mana unless they had special abilities that specifically allowed them to.


    But since Ryan was basically the conduit through which the spirits existed in this world beyond just their cores, he was able to see their mana, and similarly, when they used their skills, his eyes would take on the colour of their mana. Maybe that had to do with the fact that Ryan''s own mana was completely colourless that it was just being dyed in the spirits'' colours, but it wasn''t all too important either. What was important was that Ryan had a new, unique insight into magic.


    He had seen some magic visualization things before; it was basically a standard in high school if you took classes related to magic, and Ryan''s high school required those classes. But seeing the real thing was still totally different.


    Jester was the first of the spirits that was using actual, real ''spells'' that he could observe. Spells that followed specific patterns and were cast through those physical movements. If Ryan technically had access to the spirits'' magic, would he not be able to cast their spells or use their abilities if he understood them well enough?


    Of course, it wasn''t as though Ryan was able to just access their mana whenever he wanted. The only time that came close to it was when he was using the ''Spirit Link'' skill, and even then, there was a limit to how much of their mana he had within him. When the skill was active, through the thread that connected him to the spirit in question, it was like a constant flow of mana between Ryan an the spirit was created. And every time that skill levelled up, the amount of mana that flowed between them increased. Maybe if the skill continued levelling up, he could start using the spirits'' mana more actively.


    Ryan smiled lightly. He sat down beside the stage next to Jester, and decided to observe him. And, during a short break, Ryan activated the Spirit Link skill.


    Jester was taken aback for a moment, but he quickly realized what Ryan wanted to do and nodded his head, as if he was giving him permission. And so, Ryan observed Jester closely. But he didn''t focus on the most of the spirit''s actual senses. Rather, now that he was able to understand the flow of his own mana, he could actually figure out which part of the information he was getting from the spirits was the flow of their mana. And so, Ryan was able to learn what it felt like to manipulate mana the way that Jester was doing it.


    To say it was mind-boggling was an understatement. Ryan had no idea how it was even possible to do something like that. To Ryan, moving his mana felt like pushing away a bunch of honey with your breath. It was exhausting and slow. But Jester''s mana was jumping around inside of him, spreading through different parts of him as he jumped, making shapes within him. The flames of his mana were creating images inside of Jester''s body, though Ryan had no idea what they meant, and they were disappearing far too fast for him to try and figure out what they were supposed to depict. While Ryan could tell what the spirits were sensing in almost every way, he didn''t inherit their understanding of those things.


    Without the ability to move his mana properly, Ryan had no hope whatsoever to copy what Jester was doing. Even so, viewing the shadow play like this was still pretty fun. The play itself continued on for a while even after the Spirit Link skill''s effect was over, but at the end, something did happen.


    <hr>


    [Jester''s -Harlequin''s Act- Skill has levelled up!]


    <hr>


    Ryan smiled seeing the message. He did use that spell for quite a while, though it luckily didn''t use much of Jester''s mana. But this was clearly the best way for that skill to level up. It seemed that, though the spirit''s abilities were heavily tuned toward combat, at the end of the day, a harlequin was an entertainer first and foremost. Plus, levelling up that skill would definitely allow Jester to use this spells more effectively, or rather, allow him to use more spells in the first place, which would only improve his capabilities in combat as well. Either way, though Ryan was more than just annoyed with Jester in the beginning, he was already warming up to him quite a bit. Not just because of how useful his abilities were, but also because of how genuinely happy it seemed to make the spirit to make all the people down here happy.


    There was no way Ryan could dislike someone who could be beaming with such joy even through a mask that hid his entire face.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    A cup of coffee hit the table, and Runar looked to the side. He had deep, dark rings under his eyes, even worse than they usually were. Yamada was looking at him with a light smile, signing to him.


    "Are you okay? You''re looking kind of rough," she pointed out, and Runar let out a long sigh.


    "I''m fine, don''t worry," he replied, signing as he spoke. He picked up the cup of coffee and took a sip, immediately pulling back, "Urgh... I just hate the taste of this stuff... Moondust coffee is just the worst."


    Yamada shrugged, "I like their hot chocolate."


    "I know, I know," Runar sighed, pushing through and continuing drinking the coffee. While he hated the taste, he hated the sensation of not having any caffeine in his body even more, "Have you found out anything about this ''Richie'' guy''s movements?"


    Yamada quickly nodded and grabbed something from a nearby table, handing it over to Runar before starting to explain, "He used to live with his family, but around when he would have become corrupted, he moved out into a place in the Channel directly sponsored by Bluesky. Every morning at 7am, he steps out and buys himself breakfast at a nearby shop. He will go out to a specific park, eat his food there, and then goes on a short walk before going to the nearby Bluesky offices. From what I can tell, he has a quite regular workday, starting at 8:30am and ending at 5:00pm. He is out of the building by 5:10pm, and then gets into a car registered to one of the White Shadow Society''s shell companies. I tried following them a few times, but I always lost track of them at some point. He returns to his flat by 11pm without exception."


    Runar stared at Yamada''s hands confused, not sure if he really just heard her right, "Wait, you lost track of someone in a car? Seriously?"


    As though she was embarrassed to admit this, Yamada looked away and nodded, "He seems to be manipulating the traffic signals and in some cases even the circuitry of other cars. More than once, a car seemed to have turned off randomly, allowing his driver to move through at the optimal time."


    With a sigh, Runar rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Okay, so, clearly there''s something going on here. When he''s back from checking on the nearby fire spirits, I''ll have Anders talk to our construction contacts. Maybe one of them can be bribed into breaking some NDA''s about secret underground construction that''s not in any of the official documents," he explained. Otherwise, if this weren''t the case, there had to be two Richard Snapperties running around this town. At the times he had apparently been at work or inside of his flat, he was spotted in different locations of interest all over New Riverside. Most of these locations didn''t even seem to be related to the spirits, but that he was there for something else, more long-term.


    "... Get me a map of the path that he walks in the mornings, and send a recon team member into his building to check out what''s going on around there," Runar said, thinking intensely about what could be going on. As Yamada quickly stepped up to one of the computers, Runar stood up and started pacing around. This place was one of the flats owned by the Aglecards. It was specifically set up for surveillance of Bluesky here in the Channel. Runar was actually here a lot when there was some shady business going on in this part of town.


    While there was crime all over New Riverside, the sort of matters that Runar usually dealt with happened here where the mega-rich were on their own turf, able to do whatever they wanted with little to no consequences.


    "Come on, what the hell is going on?" Runar bit his thumb nail. They were able to barely prevent some chaos today, where a shadow spirit was corrupted and supposed to attack a crowd under one of the veils, but someone did still get injured. Luckily, it had been possible to strengthen the Corruption Cure that was grown by Gaia to the point where it was stable enough to be put into one of Yamada''s bullets, so the spirit''s body was quickly destroyed and the core could be retrieved safely so that the spirit could recover at another location. Since Runar had prepared a magic item that could suppress sound well enough, it was possible to hide the attack that happened surprisingly easily, but it just showed even more that something big was supposed to happen tomorrow.


    Even if you weren''t the sort of person that liked to celebrate Spirit Week, there was almost nobody that wasn''t paying attention to Angir''s celebrations. Usually, this was because of the fireworks lit up city-wide, but this time, it was also because this Spirit Week had a lot more attention drawn to it due to the spirits'' attack at the expo the other day. It was the absolutely perfect opportunity to place the seedling of some real fear into the entire city. Runar had to prevent this under all circumstances.


    He took a long, deep breath and walked back over to the desk he was sitting at before. Runar was preparing things for some potential counter-measures for tomorrow. In particular, he was inscribing some runes onto small magic stones that were going to be put into some fireworks all over town tomorrow. Though, these fireworks would only be lit in an emergency, and were supposed to act as a powerful signal-flare for all the Aglecard agents working around the city. Luckily, this was a situation where even the elders weren''t able to stand in his way, so he had more than doubled the active Aglecard workforce within the city for the next little while to make sure they could react wherever they were.


    Of course, this ''signal-flare'' had a few other effects. When the explosives around the magic stone activated the spell inscribed within them, a powerful blast would temporarily make everyone that saw the light from the explosion more susceptible to suggestions while dulling their potential panic responses. Basically, it could allow the nearby Aglecard agents to immediately evacuate any nearby people. On top of that, though it was sort of hitting the limit of what could be placed onto a single magic stone, Runar wanted the light of the explosion to temporarily scramble any cameras to avoid the spread of information about any rampaging spirits.


    Any regular cameras could be shut down just through some specifically targeted pulses of mana, completely distorting the images. And, as for mana-sensitive cameras, even they just worked by actively sensing the mana in the capture area and countering the resulting distortion. But as long as Runar was able to place a particularly annoying, fluctuating wavelength into the mana pushed out by the magic stones, it was possible to even scramble the specialty equipment used by the Awakened Association.


    That was much easier said than done, though. Not only did Runar have to worry about the magical integrity of the conduit, but the magic stones themselves were small and light to make sure the fireworks could be launched safely.


    Right when Runar was putting the finishing touch on the first of the magic stones, his phone rang. He quickly answered the call, but there was only silence on the other end.


    "Anders, are you okay? What''s going on over there?" he asked, immediately concerned for his friend and aide.


    But it wasn''t Anders that answered the question. Instead, it was a voice that Runar had only heard on recordings.


    "Take this as a warning. Stop following me."


    The voice of Richard Snappertie sounded out, and Runar''s body froze in response as the call disconnected.

 124 - Shared Mana

    Staring at the phone in his hand, Runar''s hand started to shake in anger. This call was supposed to be from Anders, but the one that spoke to him was Richard Snappertie, the individual that Runar, Yamada, and Anders were trying to stop from infecting even more spirits with his corruption.


    "How dare he?" Runar practically growled as he pressed his teeth together, jumping up from his seat. He looked over at the confused Yamada, explaining the situation to her as he grabbed everything he needed to rush out. Of course, Yamada herself had already rushed downstairs to go get the car ready.


    With everything gathered together, all the tools and items that Runar had been preparing over the past few days, he ran out of the flat. Not even bothering with the elevator, Runar entered the stairwell and glanced down the deep hole in its middle. Without hesitation, Runar jumped down, pulling his arms against his body to make sure he didn''t hit the railings on the way down. And then, a few metres over the ground, the runes that were placed onto the underside of his shoes activated, halting his fall and safely placing him down onto the ground.


    Now at the bottom, he could hear the car''s engine, and Runar ran into the parking garage. He practically slid toward the car with his pen in his hand, and wrote some stealth runes into the air in front of each of the doors, the front, and the rear. The glowing symbols quickly placed themselves onto the car''s exterior, wrapping it in a magical shine. At the front of the car, Runar signalled Yamada to pop the hood, and he quickly opened it up. He had no idea about how this thing worked, but he knew what he had to do to super-charge this thing. And then, after strengthening the tires with some runes as well to improve not only the rubber''s strength but also the grip they would have on the road, Runar jumped into the open door and pulled it shut in front of him.


    Yamada revved the engine for a moment, and with an immense push onto Runar''s whole body, the car took off through the parking garage. The demon drifted around the corner, making Runar shake around as he tried to write something onto the windshield. A small arrow was starting to be displayed on the windshield, turning quite rapidly and slowly stabilizing as Runar finished the writing. He was connecting it to Anders'' last known location, so that Yamada could be guided while fully keeping her eyes on the road.


    And then, once she knew, Runar quickly buckled in and made sure he was ready for what was about to happen. A grin formed on Yamada''s face as the car rushed through the roads of the Channel. Dodging past cars, running red lights, and almost crashing into every other wall before Yamada turned the car away at the last second. And with the help of the stealth runes that were placed onto the car, nobody even noticed.


    Runar''s stealth runes were so well-crafted that even when trying to look at the car through a camera, it wouldn''t be visible. It wasn''t as though the car wasn''t actually visible, of course, but whenever someone was trying to view the footage, they simply wouldn''t notice the car speeding along. The concept of ''Stealth'' as far as this magic was concerned was less about ''hiding something'', and more about ''making sure nobody can find something''.


    It was the best way to handle situations like this, and was frankly a lot more effective than trying to hide something so obvious in the middle of the day. Plus, this type of stealth rune was much more simple to create than a rune that blocked it all in the first place.


    Runar closed his eyes and held his hand in front of his mouth while holding onto the handle above the door, trying not to get sick with how much the car was shaking around. This always confused Runar; he was able to jump down twenty stories without breaking a sweat or jump from falling platform to falling platform to cross a hundred vertical metres, and that was the tame stuff. But why the hell did he get sick so easily in a car ride?


    He groaned loudly, pressing his feet into the ground. Runar could practically hear Yamada''s massive grin, a mixture of anxiety for Anders'' safety and excitement for being able to drive like this as freely as she would like.


    They crossed the bridge away from the Channel after just a few minutes, taking a shortcut through Copperbeach''s district of abandoned factories, as this place had extremely broad roads and low traffic, and made their way to the centre of New Riverside, where the three districts of the city''s main island met. Copperbeach, Upstream, and Lakeview. This was the place where some of the massive fireworks for tomorrow were supposed to be launched in a way that they would be visible from almost every place in the city. Of course, there was a reason why this part of town was chosen; there was a large proximity to multiple fire spirits that had settled down here way back in the day, either during the times of Old Riverside, where the centre of the island was reserved for a massive ceremonial bonfire, or when the area was later turned into one of the central factory areas connecting all the districts during the industrial age.


    Though many of them ended up moving over to to Copperbeach when it was first developed into a copper foundry, there were still a few left that liked to live in what remained of either the bonfire or the factories. Specifically, the spirit that took on most responsibility during the last day of spirit week every year was the fire spirit living in the bonfire plaza, being one of the oldest spirits here in general, not even mentioning other fire spirits. And considering what the bonfire represented for this town, it stood to reason that this was the highlight of the entire week''s celebrations.


    That was why Anders was supposed to make sure that the spirits around here were all doing well and were protected. But clearly, Richard had a different idea. Runar just hoped that Anders was okay. He didn''t believe that Richard, who was effectively supposed to be just a low-levelled, young technomancer, albeit one strengthened through corruption, could really hold a candle to Anders. When it came to one-on-one combat, Anders was by far the strongest out of the three of them. Frankly, as far as Runar knew, Anders could be one of the most powerful Brawlers of this era.


    But who knew what other cards Richard had up his sleeves, especially with the support of the White Shadow Society? Anders wasn''t the strongest against magic or trickery, and according to Ryan, this guy was supposed to be ridiculously smart and tricky.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The car pulled into the bonfire plaza, and Runar immediately looked around. His eyes were infused with some of his runes, creating what were essentially magic circles in his irises. It took a while to set up, but this was the best ocular enhancement that Runar could place onto himself. With this, he looked around the area, trying to see every speck of magic that was flowing through the plaza. In its centre, within the large wooden bonfire that was going to be lit tomorrow night, potent fire magic had been gathered. But there was also something more, a deep, dark spark of what could only be the corruption lingering within that magic, just waiting to sprout.


    At this level, it should be easy enough to cure the corruption, though convincing the fire spirit to let Runar douse it in a liquid of all things wasn''t going to be easy by any means. Though, that wasn''t the only thing that was worrying Runar. There were dozens of other, powerful mana-signatures all over the place. Though these signatures had the exact same nature. Black, wriggling worms that were coiling around each other in a jagged pattern like lightning. It was corrupted mana. Richard''s. But how were there dozens of people with the same exact mana around here?


    Even before Runar could even think about answering that question, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck. His eyes widened and he slammed the dashboard with his fist. Yamada''s eyes darted toward Runar and she immediately twisted the steering wheel to the side.


    The car, which was still moving quite fast, suddenly turned sideways. It would have flipped over, but the runes placed on the wheels completely prevented that from happening. Instead, the car quickly came to a halt, and just a few steps to the side, a robot slammed into the ground. The ground cracked under the impact. But there wasn''t much time to figure out what was going on. Soon, a black spark of magic was shot toward this robot from one of the others scattered around on top of the nearby buildings, and it suddenly shot right at the car without even needing to accelerate. It just suddenly gained the speed it needed.


    Its arm pushed through the car''s door, and with a swift motion, the door was torn off. But of course, the only thing that it could expect was a shot to the forehead from Yamada''s gun. At the last moment, the robot turned its head away. While the bullet shattered the left side of the robot''s head, it still seemed functional despite some of its wiring being exposed and frayed.


    Both Runar and Yamada jumped out of the car and got started. The first thing he did was create a communication channel between himself and Yamada. They had specifically trained for situations like this, where Runar could give information to the demon so that the two of them could communicate properly. It was quite simple as well. Runar could specifically target Yamada''s eye, and was then able to draw different small symbols into her field of view. They had a few dozen different signals set that wouldn''t be too distracting in the middle of a battle. But this same method of targeting Yamada''s eye had another use. Runar could mark targets for Yamada.


    Basically, if he applied specific runes onto each enemy, Yamada would be able to properly see those enemies even through walls. The range was up to a few hundred metres.


    And so, Runar quickly got started. While Yamada was distracting the onslaught of robots that were coming after the two of them, Runar wrote onto his arms and legs, allowing him to move out of the way quickly as he scouted. With his eyes already strengthened, he was in the best position for a scout. But he still had to do something else.


    He wrote onto his hand and his fingers, making them more nimble and dexterous so that he could write runes faster and faster. Though, since one of his basic skills already strengthened his dexterity while he was writing runes, this additional boost strained his fingers quite a bit, so he tried not to use it. He just didn''t have another choice this time around.


    Runar held his breath to stabilize his hands, and immediately let out a flurry of runes as he jumped around, marking each and every one of the robots for Yamada. Once the markings were done, Runar placed gravity runes onto the nearby robots, increasing their weight as much as he could in this short amount of time. With this, the gunslinger was already able to take down a couple of them.


    As he ran around the area, Runar started writing runes down onto the old cobblestone under his feet, using them to draw a large circle around the unlit bonfire in the centre of the plaza. In the process, he had to create five cornerstones, which were more complex magic circles that required some more of his attention, of course leading to some of those robots attacking him. And they were incredibly annoying as well.


    They moved in unnatural ways and dodged out of the way of Runar''s strikes even though many of them were weighted down. Even Yamada seemed to be struggling to get a good hit on any of them, and could only slowly whittle down on their bodies. In the end, this seemed like a battle of endurance. Though, considering how fast every new robot was falling, this seemed like an easy win for the pair.


    But pretty soon, Runar saw something quite annoying. It seemed like they were sharing their mana amongst themselves, like they are basically charging each other so that every robot would be at the same mana level. And whenever one of them was taken down, that robot''s mana was spread between all the rest, strengthening those. The more of the robots were taken down, the stronger the remaining ones became.


    Of course, that didn''t mean that Yamada and Runar were in any real danger, the robots were just more annoying to deal with, and each subsequent robot took longer to take down as a result. And they didn''t exactly have a ton of time right now. They were here to look for Anders; Runar hadn''t sensed any of his magic or aura around here, so they had to hurry it up and get going.


    Before then, though, Runar finished off the large rune circle, quickly activating it. A barrier was formed around the unlit bonfire, so that no magic could get in or out. The spirit would be trapped, and Richard would be unable to mess with it any further.


    Now that this was done, Runar could fully concentrate on the remaining robots. He created more runes that were supposed to restrain them, slowing them down further. And though they seemed somewhat resistant to this magic for some reason, all this allowed Runar and Yamada to take down all the rest.


    Once they were gone, Runar looked around, trying to follow where the mana was going to go. Most likely, it would be right back on its way to Richard. And considering how fast the mana was moving, the gnome had to be fairly close.


    Without further ado, the two of them ran after the mana together, with Yamada keeping an eye out on whatever could be lurking around the corner. But they were just able to keep moving, turning around one of the corners. And there, Runar said him.


    Anders. All of his magic and aura was basically completely drained out of his body, and right next to him was another small robot, though clearly not meant for battle in the same way those others were. But the robot was the one that received the other robots'' mana, quickly breaking it down and letting it dissipate in a way that it wouldn''t seek out Richard after this.


    "He was just buying time?" Runar ground his teeth, squatting down on the ground in front of his dwarven friend. Anders was still breathing, but he was clearly in critical condition. Immediately, Runar hoisted the dwarf onto his back, trying to briefly free one of his hands to sign to Yamada, "You bring him to the healer, I''ll stay here and take care of the spirit."

 125 - The Scared Cat

    The bonfire in the middle of the plaza was tall, towering over Runar as he approached it. Thick logs were used as a base, and in its centre, different, more easily burnable things were placed. There were even some herbs that were going to throw different scents into the air during the fire.


    Usually, there wasn''t any actual wood here. It generally just a stone statue that was magically enchanted to let fire run along its grooves. And every Sunday evening, it would be lit up for a few hours. Some traditions like this were spread throughout the entire city, where small matters were done to celebrate the regular weekday that was protected by each of the Great Spirits. The botanical gardens usually had free entry on Mondays, and most farmer''s markets happened on Tuesdays. It was that sort of thing.


    But spirit week was special. It was the week leading up to the summer solstice, and to celebrate the longest day of the year, the moment the day''s first light hit the bonfire, it would be lit. And then, when night fell, the bonfire would be put out and the fireworks would start instead. And all that happened with a real bonfire made of wood that was properly lit up. But what would happen if the spirit housed inside of those flames was corrupted?


    All the people that were surrounding it on this plaza were going to be caught in an unimaginable crossfire. They were going to get hurt or die. And that wasn''t all; if something like that were to happen, the consequences would be horrible. Over the past few years, the White Shadow Society already created not just the legal groundwork to pursue this through the courts, but even fostered a group of extremists that were ready to scream as loud as they needed the moment spirits could seem like even a slight problem.


    Of course, they had already started the other day during the expo, but since that was the Magic Tower''s turf, they were able to very quickly stop the chaos from going out of control. It seemed as though they had pushed it onto some ''rogue mage''s experiment'' that had gone totally wrong, and though the Magic Tower would need to answer to that somehow in some court cases that were going to happen soon, nothing much would happen to them. That was how powerful the Magic Tower was as an international institution.


    The Aglecard Foundation already reached out to those that were injured in the Magic Tower''s stead and paid out whatever financial support was asked for. That was the deal that the Aglecards made with the Magic Tower to have them take all the blame for what happened, drawing the attention away from the spirits.


    But that was only possible because of where the attack happened. If something similar happened here, not only would the Magic Tower not be able to take the blame, it would backfire as a whole and place even more attention onto the spirits from the expo. Everything could go to shit if even one more big thing like this happened, toppling down.


    "Fuck," Runar ran his hand through his hair, trying to think about what he could do. The moment he tried to approach the bonfire, the spirit''s flames lit up hotter, making the corruption within it only spread throughout it faster. Of course, Runar could just douse it in the cure, but they didn''t have much left at the moment, and creating more obviously wasn''t easy. Half of Gaia''s garden had already been prepared to grow as many of the copper wildflowers as possible, and nay excess seeds were brought to another location to be potentially studied by the Aglecard family''s experts.


    "I''m here to help, so just-" he tried to say, sending out pulses of mana to try and get the spirit to understand, but nothing seemed to work. Either, Runar couldn''t risk making the spirit right now. The heat that emanated from its body was so strong that the liquid cure would probably just evaporate before even being able to get close to any affected area. He had to convince this spirit to freely take the cure before it was too late, or somehow break down its body and submerge just its core.


    And, frankly, it wasn''t like the spirit wasn''t one that Runar couldn''t take on, but breaking down a spirit''s body so forcefully was risky. Ryan got lucky with the lake''s spirit because its body was already barely being kept together by the corruption, so the cure simply made it crumble away with ease. Like removing a layer of dried mud from your skin. But forcefully breaking a spirit''s body was dangerous. If Runar wasn''t careful, it could lead to deep damage in the spirit''s core.


    He ground his teeth together and stared at the spirit hiding away within the bonfire. Runar wasn''t great with matters like this. His sociability was by far the lowest of all his stats, and its growth was locked in the mid single-digits. The way that the stat presented wasn''t actually all too useful in communicating with others either. Rather, it just seemed to strengthen the speed at which Runar learned languages and let him comprehend the meaning behind what others said more easily, but actually building a connection of trust between himself and others... that was a whole different matter.


    At this point, Runar really only had one choice. None of Ryan''s stats were all too high just yet, but they somehow presented themselves in extremely potent ways. Especially his mental stats presented in a way that made them seem higher than they actually were. While that was mainly the case for his Intuition, Ryan''s sociability was pretty ridiculous as well, especially when it came to magical beings. Penny, Kindly, Liam... those three almost immediately trusted Ryan and grew extremely close to him, and that wasn''t even mentioning the connection he had to spirits. The fact that he built up a rapport with Goria was proof of how special he was in this way.


    "And I told him to leave it all to me..." Runar groaned, taking out his phone. He immediately dialled his nephew''s number and waited for him to answer, which didn''t actually take too long. Laughter and cheering could be heard in the background, but it was quickly muffled as a door seemed to close.


    "What''s up?" Ryan asked, and Runar hesitated for a few moments.


    "... I need you to come to Bonfire Plaza as soon as you can."


    There was a bit of silence on the other side of the call, "I thought you could handle it on your own?"


    "I could, but it might mean the city''s oldest fire spirit could get really hurt, and I''d like to avoid that," Runar explained, and this time, instead of silence, a groan sounded out, "Ryan, just come here. There shouldn''t be much danger around here anymore, so just come quickly so we can take care of this."


    "... Fine. I''ll come quickly. Is Yamada available?"


    "No, she''s not. Instead..." Runar hesitated. Yamada would be pretty upset, but Runar meant to buy her a new one anyway, so it should be fine for Ryan to get some hand-me downs, "At the opposite side of the cave, with the large-scale entrance, is a garage. There''s a bike in there, so use that."


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan grinned lightly as he used Runar''s key to open up the locked garage. He wondered what was in here, but he didn''t expect something like this. Though Ryan didn''t know a ton about bikes, he knew that this one was a beauty. Ryan got his motorcycle when he turned sixteen. Getting a bike was cheaper than a car, and it was enough to get him around town. Though, some random pricks trashed the bike a few months before Ryan moved to New Riverside, so he hasn''t driven one in a while, but he should get back into it pretty quickly.


    "Though... this one is probably a lot more powerful than what I''m used to," Ryan grimaced slightly, looking around the room. There was a helmet here that looked like it should fit him fine. He brought the bike out of the garage and then pulled the helmet onto his head and got onto the bike, quickly starting it up. Ryan felt the bike''s rumbling underneath him, and looked up the tunnel in front of him. It was a large, meandering tunnel that was specifically made for either larger species to come down here or for transport vehicles to drive into the cave, though it didn''t happen often. Ryan had seen it only once so far.


    But without further ado, Ryan started driving up the tunnel. Luckily, it was very well-lit, so he got to the top safely with ease. Once there, he held his ''key'' up to a panel next to him, and the brick wall that he was looking at opened up, leading Ryan into the lowest floor of a public parking garage, which he also quickly had to drive up and out of, and was then on the roads quite a bit away from his home. Getting to the bonfire plaza from here should be pretty easy though. The only annoying part was the amount of people still driving around.


    Being Porsa''s day, the celebrations basically didn''t end until the night ended; so in the morning. There were tons of people still up and about. If Runar had to go so far as to call Ryan, it would have to be some kind of emergency, so Ryan really didn''t want to let his uncle wait for too long.


    "Oh gods, please don''t tell me Yamada rubbed off on me..." he let out a long sigh under the helmet, and quickly spoke to the spirits in their domains, "Guys, if something goes wrong... I''m sorry?"


    Before they could give their opinion, Ryan pulled into the road. Speeding up a bit more, he dodged past the cars, weaving in-between them to try and not be slowed down too much. But different to Yamada, who seemed to drive that way because of her natural driving ability and insane physical reaction time, Ryan was largely relying on his intuition. Not exclusively, of course, but still to a large amount.


    Whether it was about a car switching lanes or the traffic light turning, Ryan was able to speed up, slow down, and move around however he needed despite driving in this insane way for the first time. If his mother saw this, she would probably have a heart attack. But even so, Ryan grew more and more comfortable with this driving style, and soon found himself pretty close to the area surrounding the bonfire plaza. Though, it was locked off until the morning. There were already a few people waiting in the nearby roads, basically camping out so that they could get a good spot to watch the bonfire lighting in the morning. How the hell did Runar get past these guys?


    If he already got his heroics qualifications, maybe he could use that to force his way inside, but right now, there was no way he could get past the security around this place. Waiting nearby, Ryan decided to send a message to Runar, telling him that he was nearby but can''t get through. The only thing that Runar replied with was ''Close your eyes'', and Ryan didn''t hesitate to do as he was told in this case.


    Even through his closed eyes, Ryan could still tell that an incredibly bright light was bathing this area. He felt like this was the perfect time, and carefully opened his eyes, blocking the light with his helmet. It was still ridiculous, but at least it didn''t hurt, though the light was still pretty disorienting somehow.


    Ryan quickly drove the bike through a gap in the blinded security, soon driving onto the plaza itself. He stopped near Runar, who was eagerly waiting for him there.


    "What the hell was that?" Ryan asked, taking off the helmet. Runar sighed loudly, shaking his head.


    "That''s not important, I''ll tell you later. But we need to hurry. I can hold people off from coming in for a while, so you need to get over there and convince the fire spirit to let itself get cured," Runar said immediately, and Ryan looked over at the bonfire.


    "Wait, seriously? Can''t you just do that yourself? You can speak to the geodes, so just speak to it as well, what am I supposed to do?"


    Runar frowned lightly, "What does that have to do with anything? I can''t create the sort of frequency that spirits use to communicate. Whatever, just do it."


    "I swear to the gods, if this is just you trying to make me feel better, I-"


    "When have I ever tried to make you feel better?"


    "... Point taken. Fine," Ryan took the bottle of the cure and started approaching the bonfire. Though he couldn''t quite tell what was going on in there, he could certainly feel some part of the corruption within the confines of the unlit wooden structure.


    "Hey there, uhm..." Ryan turned around, looking at his uncle, who quickly whispered the name, "Hey there, Finley. Do you think you''d like to come out for a moment?"


    He stretched out his arm, as if he were coaxing a shy animal toward him, but the only thing he could hear from inside the bonfire was a loud hissing. A heat started to emanate from the wood that was pretty strong as well, though not enough to start a fire yet.


    "I''m not here to hurt you, don''t worry. I''m sure you''re in a lot of pain right now... I can help you with that," he explained, though it didn''t seem to work all too much. So, Ryan just continued sitting there for a few moments, taking some deep breaths. Runar seemed somewhat annoyed that he was just sitting there, but he soon saw something coming from Ryan''s body. It was hard to spot like this, considering how ''pure'' Ryan''s mana seemed to be. It was more like the air was waving around a bit, like the distortion of light above a flame.


    Ryan''s mana slowly moved out into the bonfire. Though he wasn''t able to directly communicate with Finley, maybe this would be enough to show him that he was just trying to help. That he wasn''t a threat.


    The mana touched the wood, seeping in through the cracks deeper inside. A few moments later, something peeked out its head. It was a cat. Its bright red fur was waving around slightly despite the lack of wind. One of its eyes was injured, showing nothing but a deep black scar where the corruption was seeping into its body.


    Ryan''s hand was still stretched out, and his mana was slowly but surely pouring out from it. Though, this was probably one of the most mentally strenuous things he had done in a while. Using magic didn''t only exhaust your mana, but your mind as well. It was like when you did nothing but study all day and your brain was all foggy before you dropped into bed.


    Slowly but surely, Finley was approaching Ryan. It didn''t take long until the spirit had fully come out from the bonfire''s protection. The fiery cat, injured and limping, carefully made its way toward Ryan, who just quietly sat there. Before long, Finley touched his nose to Ryan''s finger. It hurt. It wasn''t like putting your hand in fire, but it was definitely painful. But he could stop himself from flinching, luckily.


    Even so, Finley seemed to notice that he was too hot, and slightly cooled down, while carefully nuzzling his head into Ryan''s palm. He stretched out his second hand, and soon rubbed the underside of the cat''s head with a smile on his face, "Would it be alright if I take a look at those wounds you have?"


    He asked, glancing at the other deep wound on Finley''s back leg. He looked up at Ryan for a few moments, and then briefly nodded. And so, Ryan quickly got out the cure. Rather than just pouring it on the spirit, he had Runar give him some gauzes from the bike''s first aid kid, and poured some of the cure on that, slightly pressing it onto the black wounds. Ryan could feel the corruption fade, and before long, the only part where a bit was left was in its core.


    Carefully, Ryan poured some of the cure onto his palm and held it toward Finley. The cat didn''t even need to be prompted anymore, and just slowly drank the cure. It seeped into his spirit core, and a few moments later, he coughed something up. Ryan expected a burning hairball, but instead, it was just a tiny seed. Before Runar could see it, Ryan put it into his pocket. But Runar didn''t even pay attention to that.


    He was too busy staring at his nephew. Of course, Runar expected Ryan to be good at this, but... this was at a whole other level.

 126 - Buying Time

    The fiery cat sat on Ryan''s lap, as he carefully ran his hand over Finley''s back. The spirit''s purring made its whole body rumble.


    "So, what now?" Ryan asked, looking up at his uncle. And Runar just scratched his head in thought.


    "I''m not entirely sure. I mean... they know we have a cure for the corruption by now, they have to. You said you don''t know Richard that well, but do you think you know why he just... left?"


    Ryan looked around the area, spotting the remains of the destroyed robots. Runar had slightly filled him in just now on what happened earlier. The Richie from before he was corrupted would never do something like this. He cherished his creations dearly. Not to mention, even if he didn''t care about them, it just made absolutely no sense in the first place to put them here just to watch them be destroyed. Whoever hired Richie must have told him how strong Runar and Yamada are, and-


    "How did he... How did he even beat Anders?" Ryan asked, looking up at Runar.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Okay, uhm... Can you do a magic thingy to see exactly which robots you destroyed?"


    Runar raised a brow, taking out his pen, "I guess so, yeah."


    Without further ado, he wrote some strings of runes into the air, layering them on top of each other. Ryan couldn''t even keep up with the speed of what was happening. A moment later, as Runar activated the spell, the robots'' bodies basically repaired themselves. They weren''t put back together perfectly, though, it just seemed like the individual parts were held into their former positions.


    Ryan stood up, carrying Finley because the spirit refused to leave him alone right now, and looked around, "So... you said Anders fought him here, right? So why are there no traces of a battle? I''ve seen how Anders fights, it''s not exactly... clean. And you can''t tell me that he wasn''t able to take down any of the robots at all."


    "I know, it''s... weird. It doesn''t make any sense. But no matter how much I look, I can''t find an ounce of mana belonging to anyone beside Richard, so it had to be him," Runar let out a long sigh, "But really, don''t get it wrong, those robots were definitely strong. Just stronger than I would expect from a Technomancer at Richard''s level."


    Ryan had a bad feeling about this, "Maybe he just used some other trick, or got the jump on him?"


    "... I''m not sure if that would be enough to beat Anders to this level. The wounds that he got made it seem like a pretty rough fight. But you''re right, there''s no trace of it around here. And there''s no mana lingering that would make me think someone came and cleaned it all up afterward either."


    "So what, the fight didn''t happen here at all? They fought somewhere else? And then Richard brought Anders'' body here to make you think that they were fighting here."


    "But why would he..?"


    A moment of realization came over Runar. He pulled out his phone and quickly dialled a number that Ryan couldn''t make out from where he was standing. A few moments later, Runar was talking to someone, "Lockdown protocol. Do not let anyone in or out of the havens without my explicit permission."


    "Wait, what?" Ryan asked, confused, "What do you mean?"


    Runar just glanced at his nephew for a moment, "Just a safety measure, calm down. I just don''t want to risk anything, alright? I just can''t figure out what they''re thinking or doing, but it''s all too weird to not try and be extra safe. It''s going to be a bit annoying for some people, but they''ll have to just deal with it."


    "You''re actually just locking them in now? Dude, seriously, just-" Ryan stopped himself. He knew that fighting about this wouldn''t really do anything, so he stopped himself, "You think they''d attack the havens? Now?"


    "Better safe than sorry. We can open them up again in a few days, so just calm down," Runar said as he hung up the call, dialling another number, "As long as I don''t know what''s happening, we''re on top emergency. If they were able to take down Anders, they have some trump card that we don''t know about yet."


    Ryan stared at his uncle with thinly veiled anger. Even Finley seemed to be getting a little uncomfortable laying in his arms, "Whatever. But don''t stop be from going down to the caves tomorrow for the last bits of celebration."


    "... I''d rather you didn''t, but if you have to, sure," Runar replied, before turning his attention back to his phone. Ryan approached the bonfire and carefully put Finley back down on it.


    He had such a bad feeling about all of this. Like something was going to pop out from a corner and turn this whole place into some kind of hellish landscape. This couldn''t be all, there had to be some plan b for today. But Finley was fine, now. With the barrier that Runar had put here, they couldn''t corrupt the fire spirit again.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    And... nothing happened. It was already evening, and the celebrations in the caves went on as normal, as Ryan had planned them. Things were a bit more tense than usual, because everyone down here was told of the lockdown, but Ryan was trying his best to make them relax. By now, they were enjoying the events for the day that Ryan had set up. The magic lanterns wisps of light were floating through the air, and the fire created by Maximus while he was using Granfell were also gathering quite the crowd.


    The dryads were staying in their forest the entire day, though. They really weren''t the biggest fans of fire, for obvious reasons.


    Ryan was sitting on the flat roof of one of the buildings, just staring up at the crystal ceiling. He''s had this weird gut feeling all day that he wasn''t able to relieve, no matter what he did. He went to visit Anders, and he seemed to be doing alright. He said that he didn''t remember what happened during the fight itself, but that was supposed to be more of a side-effect of the damage to the head he had taken and the rapid healing that this damage undertook afterward. The only thing he could tell them was that he fought with something with a small stature, and the way it moved sounded like one of the Roxie units like always. Maybe Richard just made one super strong version. Beside that, Anders should recover those memories with just a bit of time.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Then there was Yamada; she was pretty angry that Ryan had driven the bike, but after Runar spoke to her, she basically just gifted it to him. Ryan couldn''t complain about that. Beside that... Ryan''s mother was alright, his friends were doing great. Dimos had agreed to talk to Liam for a bit next week. Ryan even reached out to Michael to see if he was doing alright, but he had apparently just been practicing his magic control over the past week and hasn''t done much else.


    Nothing seemed to be out of place. But this feeling kept chasing Ryan. He even had a nightmare about a massive lion tearing people apart, which he imagined to be the outcome of what could have happened if Finley hadn''t been cured. But he was cured. Ryan was holding the proof in his hands.


    It seemed as though certain types of strong corruption left behind things like this. It was like the corruption''s own ''core'' that formed. Goria called it the ''Seed of blessing''... why was it created by corruption?


    There was just so much going on with him right now. Was he just being too vigilant all of a sudden? He was pretty sensitive recently. Maybe he should just take it easy and be happy that nothing was wrong. It wasn''t like Ryan could do anything about it if things did happen. He had promised his uncle not to get involved unless specifically asked to.


    Ryan got out his phone and opened his browser. It was still on his university''s website. He had to go talk to some course supervisors tomorrow so that he could switch to a magic track, but he still had to choose what exactly he wanted to do. Frankly, he could probably pick and choose, and the university would make it work somehow. That''s how special a ''unique'' class would be to them.


    Either way, figuring out what exactly Ryan wanted to learn at university was tough in the first place. He wanted to know more about spirits, but what did that even really mean? Spirits were all so... different to each other, and the spirits that were with Ryan were all somewhat different from other spirits too, as far as he could tell. Maybe he should just go with some basic classes and then figure the rest out afterward. While he was at it, he should head to the library tomorrow and learn more about what it meant to be max level, like Runar was close to.


    But before then, Ryan had to finish out the day, and distract himself from this disgusting gut feeling. He dropped his phone next to him and looked at the small plastic bag with the two seeds in them. One of them he got from Finley yesterday, and the other one he got from the lake spirit after curing it. Gaia had tried to plant one, but that hadn''t done anything. Instead, Ryan probably had to take them in again to make them work.


    Goria had already supported the growth of the large one that had he had gotten from Kindly, so maybe these would do that as well. If these things were supposed to boost his growth somehow, then getting more would only make him grow faster... right?


    Ryan sat upright and let the two seeds drop into his palm. Last time, the seed was pulled into him because of his blood, but it was probably more likely to have been the mana inside of his blood. It was quite concentrated in there; there was a reason why vampires fed on blood, after all. Ryan pushed out some mana, and the moment it came in contact with the seeds, they crumbled away into nothing, disappearing just like that.


    But they didn''t disappear fully, and instead, Ryan could feel a slight twinge in the corner of his eye, with a subtle headache coming on.


    "Urgh..." he groaned, grabbing his head as he looked inward. Something was quickly happening in the space between the domains. Until now, there had only been that young tree sitting on a mound in the centre of the pond created by Goria. But now, around the tree''s base, a thick layer of grass was growing. Beside that, a small layer of moss appeared on the side of the tree. He wasn''t sure if anything else changed, but somehow, his mind seemed a bit clearer. Like the air in his mind was cleaner now.


    Ryan took a deep breath, "Well, it seems to have some effect, at least."


    With a smile, he stood up, looking down at everyone that was excitedly watching Maximus. He noticed one of them looking toward him and waving. They were saying something, but Ryan couldn''t understand them. It was just buzzing, and whirring, like someone was yelling through ten layers of fabric. There was a slight whistle in the background there as well, which was growing louder and louder, as Ryan felt something went on his lip.


    He touched his hand to it and took a look. His fingertips were covered in blood. An intense dizziness came over Ryan, as his sight turned blurry. Losing balance, he fell forward over the rooftop''s edge. Of course, the building was just a story tall, so it wasn''t a long fall, but dropping down head-first still wasn''t the safest thing around.


    Ryan pressed his eyes shut, since his body didn''t seem to respond to what he was telling it to do. He mentally braced himself for impact, but... nothing happened. Ryan opened his eyes, looking straight at a wardrobe. Now, he could feel the pressure of Kindly''s ''arms'' pushing up against him.


    With a long groan, Ryan forced himself to smile while pressing his nose shut, "Thanks for catching me, buddy."


    Kindly slowly let Ryan back down. Though he felt quite unsteady on his feet, it was a lot better already. He had no idea what that just was, but Maximus had definitely noticed it. He was coming up to Ryan with a box of tissues that he grabbed from Runar''s office, and he quickly grabbed some to press against his nose, "Thanks."


    ''Maybe that was a bit too much...''


    He should be more careful from now on. But at least it was over now. Though, as he thought that to himself, Ryan noticed that in the brief moment where he hadn''t paid attention, the seeds of blessing in his mind had... grown. Just a moment ago, the fresh grass and moss were just small patches, but everything was just way... more. The tree had grown up a hefty amount, and the grass was thicker and covered even beyond the confines of the pond. The moss was growing onto the ground, which was now covered in actual dirt and stone.


    It seemed like that rapid growth just now was what made Ryan nearly faint. With an awkward laugh, Ryan tried to laugh it off, trying to calm down everyone that had just seen him fall. He convinced them to continue on with their celebrations, and though most of them ended up doing so, a few individuals stuck by him almost like glue.


    For one, Kindly was standing next to him the whole time now, with one of his tentacles always halfway reaching out to Ryan in case he fell down again. He wanted to calm the mimic down a bit, but saying that he wasn''t going to faint again felt like a bit deceitful. Really, he didn''t know that for sure. But he did wish that the spirits wouldn''t be so worried. They in particular must have noticed that something was wrong with Ryan for a few moments there. It was like his mana was still reeling from what just happened.


    Either way, for now, Ryan just had to take it easy. He took out his phone again. There should be a stream of the bonfire plaza''s celebrations being shown right now. It should be quite close to sunset, so the switch from bonfire to fireworks should be starting soon. He also planned something similar for this today, so he wanted to make sure he got the timing right.


    With a tissue held against his nose, Ryan looked at the livestream. The fire was raging, and people seemed to be having fun. The camera was pointed right at the bonfire, and soon, Ryan could see something moving inside of it. A small red cat was moving onto the flames, like sitting on the peak of a mountain.


    But something was wrong. Finley was swaying back and forth. He started coughing and convulsing. It looked like Finley was choking on something. The flames that made up his body grew darker. They grew... black. A deep, ugly black. Finley''s body grew larger, the flames clearly hotter. The bonfire collapsed, and within it, a large, black lion stood, growling at the people. And then, a large flash appeared, completely blocking out the camera''s view, distorting it to the point of not being able to see anything at all.


    Then, the stream cut out.

 127 - The Awakened Supervisor

    "What''s going on? What the hell just-" Ryan stared at his screen, a deep panic boiling over from his stomach into his throat, "I-I cured him, just how-"


    As his breathing grew heavier, Ryan immediately tried to call his uncle, but nobody picked up.


    "Fuck, fuck, fuck, just- Just how-" he stared at the screen, at the words ''This Livestream Has Ended'' mockingly staring back at him. Immediately, he left the page and tried to look for some other streams or news channels that were live, and quickly found one that seemed to be covering today''s celebrations.


    "-has come in that an incident occurred at Bonfire Plaza today at 9:50pm. We have lost contact with our on-site correspondents, but in the last moments, the sight of a large spirit currently assumed to be Finley, the original bonfire''s spirit, could be seen. We are waiting for-" Ryan listened intensely, biting down onto his own lip while hoping for something, just anything at all, that would tell him that people are alright. That nobody got hurt, and that Runar and the others were able to just play this whole thing off as some kind of special event.


    If this went wrong, if any sort of negative attention could be drawn to Finley, this could be catastrophic. Fear was one of the best ways to motivate, or manipulate, society as a whole. Just give them something to be scared of, something that could threaten their everyday, comfortable lives, and you could completely control large groups into action. And the worst part was that, after this, who knew if the White Shadow Society would really stop?


    If they decided to spread the corruption to any spirit they came across, it would be absolutely impossible for the Aglecards to do anything against them. While it was possible to mass-produce regular plants through magic, plants that were magical on their own couldn''t be grown right away and had to undergo more natural processes to develop their actual effect. It was one thing to have growth-boosting abilities like Gaia''s, and those wouldn''t change the effect too much, but it was otherwise impossible to easily mass-produce the flowers required to produce the cure.


    If, after this, people had the idea in their mind that spirits might be dangerous, any small incident could be blown up to be even bigger than what happened at the expo.


    Ryan continued listening to the news. He listened as more information came on. And he also listened as the first reports of injuries came in. But there was only one point where he had to stop himself from listening.


    He stopped when the report came in that the fire spirit Finley, after going on a violent rampage at Bonfire Plaza, was killed.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Pulling into the parking lot, Ryan could feel his phone buzzing. He parked his bike and took off his helmet, before checking what those messages just were. It was in the group-chat.


    <blockquote>


    Modak


    @Ryan, waiting for you in the student caf¨¦


    Silvia


    ordered you a coffee already :))


    </blockquote>


    Ryan smiled lightly and stepped away from his bike, approaching the student caf¨¦ in the corner. There were a lot of reasons why this became a hangout spot for tons of students. It was relatively central to every building on campus, had accomodations for students of any size, and even multiple stories with private study rooms you could use for free. Though, if you wanted to use one in exam season, you had to sign up for it at the start of the semester, usually.


    Plus, all the food, drinks, and snacks were cheap, the furniture was comfortable, and it had just a generally great vibe about it. Ryan made his way over and pushed open the door, stepping into the air-conditioned space. He quickly spotted his friends, making his way over quickly. Modak and Silvia both stood up and gave him a hug to greet him, though Modak obviously had to be a bit more careful since his arm was still broken.


    The caf¨¦ was pretty busy, filled to the brim with both returning students and new students that were admitted for the year''s second semester. Considering how tight things were, Ryan doubted that they could have a particularly detailed conversation about everything that was going on. Though, despite that, Silvia just got right into it.


    "So... do you know what happened last night? I thought you took care of all that," she pointed out, and Ryan slowly glanced around for a moment, leaning forward as he replied.


    "I definitely, 100% did take care of it. There was no more of ''that'' left on him, and Runar promised that there was nothing to worry about with the barrier he put up."


    "So, what? Richie managed to go back and infect him again?" Modak asked, also trying to wrap his head around the situation, "Does your uncle''s magic have some kind of weak point that could have been exploited?"


    With a scoff, Ryan shook his head, "Yeah, no, I doubt that. Definitely not the kind that Richie would be able to break through."


    A bit confused at Ryan''s confidence, Modak and Silvia looked at each other for a moment. Realizing that he hadn''t told them about it yet, he figured that he should probably fill them in. According to Runar, aides were basically given the same ''information clearance'' as the one they worked for within the family. Rather, they should always be on the same level of knowledge so that they could respond properly if necessary, so he shouldn''t be able to complain about it.


    While sipping on his iced coffee through a straw, with his helmet on his lap, Ryan typed out a short message into his notes app. He turned his phone around and showed it to his friends, who stared at the screen in disbelief.


    "You''re shitting me."


    The young elf stared at Ryan, her smile almost completely wiped away, while Modak was sitting next to her trying to do the math.


    Ryan nodded, "That''s exactly what I said. But it explains a lot of things. Despite being a mage, he''s insanely physically strong."


    "Wait, but-" Modak started, confused, "Alicia is only level 87 officially, and even that is supposed to be a ridiculously hard thing to achieve. And she''s like two hundred years old..."


    "I know, it''s almost dumb how high his level is. But I don''t know why he would lie to me about it. And, I don''t know, it just felt true," Ryan explained, sighing loudly, "But... somehow, despite his level, Runar was still tricked somehow. His protection wasn''t good enough. The shadows have some trick up their sleeve."


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    The three of them just sat there for a while, dejected. What happened last night was truly a worst-case scenario, and they had to somehow figure out what they were supposed to do now to help stop Richie and the White Shadow Society.


    And then, it seemed like a spark lit up behind Modak''s eyes, "Hear me out, what if we just try to find a perfect counter for corruption?"


    "The cure works pretty well already, don''t you think?" Ryan pointed out, but Modak shook his head.


    "Of course, but that''s not what I mean. Like... if Richie can spread corruption through basically a touch, then what if we make it so that a certain someone can spread blessings through touch? Basically, cancel him out somehow."


    Ryan raised a brow, "I mean, I''m not quite sure if it works that way. Plus, blessings aren''t exactly an easy thing to-"


    He felt Modak''s stare, quickly connecting the dots. With a grin, Modak continued, "You have the seeds, and you have Tiar," he said, glancing over to Ryan''s left arm that was like a mixture of scars and the red tattoo-like, shifting lines that made up the symbiote''s body, "I looked into being like Tiar, and apparently special variants like them can sometimes temporarily connect to others to share certain abilities. And the seeds, they''re literally called ''Seeds of Blessing'', and the corruption seems to have a similar nature to curses to some degree. So, once you develop the seed enough to be immune to the corruption, you and Tiar could put that onto others. That would solve the problem of how much of the cure you need pretty quickly, right?"


    Though the idea intrigued Ryan, he had to slowly shake his head, "Yeah, I don''t know about that. All variants have certain unique abilities. Tiar''s are related more to something like copying or constructing things. They have absolutely no interest in other people, so I doubt that would be really possible," he explained, and Modak seemed a bit dejected for a moment. Ryan glanced to the side for a moment, "But well, Tiar can already push out corruption out of my body, and if that ability is potentially strengthened through the Seeds, then that''s only going to grow stronger. Just being able to face Richie without needing to worry about corruption would be an amazing benefit. Anyway, stop talking about this for a second."


    The other two were pretty confused for a moment, turning their heads to see what Ryan was looking at. It was two young women that were approaching the table. Or rather, their eyes were focused directly on one of the three.


    "S-Sorry, but... are you Modak Stonebreaker?" one of them asked, and the orc straightened his back with a startled flinch, looking at his friends confused.


    "I, uh... yeah, I am, can I help you somehow?"


    "You''re the same one that protected people at the expo last week, right? The Wizard from the Magic Tower?" the other asked, smiling nervously. They were both clutching their phones eagerly.


    Modak swallowed nervously, "I-I''m not a wizard yet, actually, I''ve only just started writing my first-circle thesis... But- but that is me, yes."


    The two of them looked at each other excitedly, and then turned back to Modak, "We''re new admissions in the Magic Engineering track... uhm, do you think we could... maybe..."


    As the girls were stammering at a similarly nervous orc, Ryan and Silvia glanced at each other. They both knew what this was about. Basically communicating with head-nudges, glances, and eyebrow-raises, they communicated to decide who was going to tell them. With a long sigh, Ryan realized that he was the one that had to do it, "Modak, they''re asking for your number right now. And you two, please be aware that he''s the world''s shittiest texter, between his studies, his work at the magic tower, and his girlfriend."


    At the mention of the last word, the two young woman practically flinched, "Oh, you have a..."


    Immediately, a broad grin formed on Modak''s face, "Girlfriend? Yeah, Yanna, she''s pretty hard to miss, so you''ll probably see her around."


    The girls'' nervous smiles dropped immediately, "Y-Yanna? As in... Yanna Redhorn, the newest Awakened League member?" they asked, glancing toward a nearby wall. Being a student caf¨¦, this place of course liked to show off some of their high-profile students'' accomplishments. And at the forefront of that currently was Yanna, who was about to make her debut in the Awakened League just a couple weeks from now. That meant that, all over the place in this university, were posters advertising that exact event.


    With a proud smile, Modak looked at the poster the two were looking at, "The very same!"


    The two looked at each other for a moment, and then decided to just laugh it off, "It was very nice to meet you, uhm... I think we have to go, we still have to find the room for our orientation."


    Modak looked at them a bit perplexed as they just turned around, without even saying their names, "That was... weird."


    "I mean, Yanna can be a bit intimidating, you know? You wouldn''t want to hit on the boyfriend of that kind of girl," Ryan pointed out, and Modak just laughed.


    "They weren''t hitting on me."


    "Yes they were," Silvia added.


    Ryan smiled lightly. He quickly finished his drink and stood up, "Anyway, let''s talk later. There''s a lot more about yesterday we need to discuss. Just... when it''s a bit more quiet."


    "Wait, where are you going? You just got here," Modak complained, and Ryan nodded awkwardly.


    "Yeah... I have a meeting with the uni''s Awakened Supervisor, he''s going to help me find the right course load and track for what I want to do."


    "Ah..." Silvia had a moment of realization, "I think I forgot to set up a meeting with him as well..."


    "Did you even let them know you''ve awakened?"


    Silvia looked at Ryan with a slightly blank stare, "We were supposed to let someone know?"


    Ryan let out a long sigh, "I can tell him when I''m there. I''ll text you if he has time to meet with you right after me, so be ready for that. Anyway, are we still meeting at the library after class?"


    The two of them nodded, and Ryan quickly went on his way. He didn''t have a ton of time before his meeting, so he had to sort of hurry up to not be late. Figuring that he might as well, Ryan quickly entered a jog. He moved past everyone with ease. Though it was busy today, being the first day of the semester and all, Ryan actually managed to not bump into anyone. Compared to driving his bike to the bonfire plaza the other day, this was basically nothing.


    He entered the administrative building before long, asking the security guy for directions toward the Awakened Supervisor''s office. Once there, Ryan knocked on the large glass door. The frosted tape that was put on the front was peeling off on the door''s edges. Soon, a shadow appeared in front of the other side of the door, which was opened up to a bright smile.


    But rather than that, the first thing that Ryan noticed was that distinct smell of sunscreen as the man smiled at him, "Yes?"


    "Hello, I''m Ryan, I''m here to meet with the Awakened Supervisor for-"


    "Ah, yes! Yes, come right in!" the man said, before letting Ryan even answer. He practically pulled him into the room, offering him a chair while sitting down behind his desk. In a hurry, the man cleared out some familiar-looking bottles from the table, "Sorry, I was just having breakfast. Ryan... Aglecard, was it?"


    As he asked, the man glanced at him for a few moments, as if trying to figure something out. Ryan nodded his head with a smile, "Yes, that''s me."


    "Wonderful. I''m Harrier Sing, but please, call me Harry," he explained, reaching out his hand toward Ryan. After quickly shaking it, Ryan sat down on the chair and waited for Harrier to sort through some documents on his computer, giving him enough time to glance around a bit. There were blackout blinds installed in front of the window, though they clearly weren''t part of the room''s standard equipment. There was a mini-fridge buzzing in the corner of the room, and right next to it stood a small bin that was filled with empty unlabelled, opaque plastic bottles. The only sort of writing they had on them was a stamp on the cap. An almost too complexly ornate ''A'', which Ryan recognized all too well.


    Before he could comment on it, though, Harrier started speaking again, "Spirit Keeper, huh? A summoner type class, and... your request was to move over to one of the magic classes, right?"


    "Mhm," Ryan nodded his head with a smile, "I was in the business track until now, but I figured it was smarter to go switch to a magic track so I could actually learn a little more about spirits, magic as a whole... I only ever really did the mandatory magic classes until now."


    "I see..." Harrier started taking some notes, "Is there any sort of field in particular you are hoping to enter after you graduate? I see that you have a Dungeoneering license."


    "Right, uh... well, I don''t have a particular field, I''m just going to help out in the family a bit."


    Harrier stopped typing for a moment, "... The family?"


    Ryan laughed a bit, "Oh, come on. The name isn''t a coincidence, I''m part of that Aglecard family. And, you know, considering you''re a Vampire, you must know exactly what kind of work I''m talking about."

 128 - Aglecards Brats

    An air of silence and confusion filled the air. Harrier stared at the young man in front of him, who just said something more than unexpected.


    "I- Uh, I-" he stuttered, staring at Ryan like a deer in headlights. Though, a few seconds later, Harrier managed to regain his composure, "I don''t know what you''re talking about."


    Ryan glanced over at the trashcan obviously enough for the man across the table to notice, "I''ve seen those bottles everyday for the past two weeks, dude. I''m sure you''ve heard about it, but the family head took in a young vampire since you guys are supposed to be properly ''introduced'' soon. It was supposed to happen on Saturday, but... some stuff happened that made it a bit hard to follow up on that."


    Even more confused, Harrier quickly turned toward his computer monitor where he most likely pulled up all of Ryan''s information, "How did you- I remember it being specifically marked in here that you''re unrelated to that family..."


    Ryan smiled awkwardly, "Yeah, things are a little complicated. But don''t worry, I am part of the family, though I was only recently introduced to... all of this," Ryan threw both his arms into the air to motion toward ''everything'', "But again, I do know enough to tell that you''re a vampire. I figured things might be a bit easier for both of us if I make sure we''re both filled in."


    With a long, stressed sigh, Harrier pushed back into his seat, "Genuinely... I did not expect this today. I just thought it was going to be like any other meeting with a freshly awakened student. Well, with the exception that you have a unique class, and all."


    Mentally, Ryan quickly noted to himself that the ''Spirit Keeper'' was apparently not common knowledge amongst everyone that was ''in the know'' about that hidden side of society, "Yes, right. I mean, it basically is, but my intentions should be easier to explain. You know, I want to help people like you, people that have to hide something like their species, or affliction, or... whatever. And you know, for that, I need to learn a bit more about my friends," Ryan held out his hand toward the desk. Red wisps of magic flowed out of his fingertips, quickly coming together to construct Maximus in front of the Awakened Supervisor. Maximus gave a brief nod to Harrier, "Spirits. Frankly, I don''t know shit about magic beyond the real basics. So I would love to be able to take classes related to spirits, magic, and the whole shebang."


    After taking in Ryan''s explanation, Harrier took a deep breath. He glanced down at Maximus and nodded his head, "I see... In that case, some introductory magic theory, history of magic, and spiritology classes would be best. If your plan is to continue working with your family, then I''m going to take that as you having a specific job that requires your Awakened status," Harrier started typing something on his computer, "We will need a signature on some documents to verify this, but once we have that, you can attend a special track that acts supplementary to your specific class and area of work."


    The printer next to Harrier''s desk turned on, and some documents were quickly printed out that were given to Ryan, "You can take your time with this, but I would prefer it if you came back with some signatures sooner rather than later. Within the month, if possible. Hm... otherwise, are there any classes that interest you? I''ll guess that you have no interest in taking any more business classes."


    Ryan quickly nodded his head, "Yes, frankly, I... don''t really care for any of them. I think I saw some classes on dungeon theory and magical botany... are those available?"


    Harrier stopped for a moment, "Hm... they are, but you would need to take introductory biology for the magical botany class first, and the dungeon theory class requires you to finish the magic theory class first. We can push those back onto the next semester."


    "Then I''ll take the introductory biology class. And I have space for two more, right?"


    "Technically, but I would recommend you only take one. If you say you don''t have any history with magical theory in particular, then it might be a bit much to completely fill your class load. Unless you want to graduate as early as possible, of course."


    Ryan thought about it for a moment. It really wasn''t as though he had any reason to graduate in the shortest amount of time he could. There were plenty of people that stuck around for a couple years longer, even if it was just to stick around a bit longer in that ''university culture'', "Hm, alright. Any recommendations for the last class, then?"


    "Well... I see you had pretty good grades in your mathematics class this past semester. In that case, I would recommend taking a ''Mathemagics'' class. It should be pretty supplementary to the rest of your classes."


    Ryan let out a slight snort. Mathemagics sounded like such a dumb term to him, but it was the official categorisation for a bunch of mathematical specializations related to the calculation of different magical theories, and even mathematical applications within spellcasting. He thought about it for a moment, and just nodded his head, "Yeah, sure. Is there any ''all purpose'' mathemagics class? I don''t know if I need to specialize in anything, it''s not like I cast spells directly anyway."


    "In that case..." Harrier typed a few things, scanning the computer monitor with his eyes, "I would recommend Algebraic Magic Theory. It''s technically an optional class, but so many people in that field take it that it might as well be mandatory at this point. It fills in a lot of other gaps and should act as a good base for other Mathetmagic classes you might want to take."


    "Alright, sign me up, then," Ryan nodded, and Harrier quickly did just that.


    He hit the ''enter'' key somewhat too dramatically, and then nodded his head toward Ryan, "Then you should be all set. Since it is a little late, you might not have amazing choices of when your classes are, but I can probably force you into some of them if you have something really important going on."


    Thinking about it, Ryan also didn''t have anything specific he had to worry about. Though, "I would like to have my classes end early, if possible... though more importantly, it would be great if they can be bunched together, and aren''t spread out all over the place."


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    A bit more typing, some more clicks of the mouse, some glances to the second screen next to him, and Harrier quickly put everything together. Once he was done, he turned one of the monitors around toward Ryan, "This look good?"


    "Yup," Ryan replied quickly. He couldn''t think of anything wrong with this, but most importantly, it just felt like it was a good schedule for him. Ryan learned to rely on these types of gut feelings a lot more recently.


    "Great. I''ll send you a copy to the email registered with your student account, and I''ll print you one version real quick as well," Harrier said, and before he even finished, the printer started up and spat out a colourful piece of paper, where each class had a different colour assigned to it.


    Ryan quickly took another closer look at everything. His first class was introductory biology, starting in around an hour already. After that, he had his introductory spiritology class, and to finish off the day, a history of magic class. Though, mondays were the most packed days. Beside that, he had only two classes each day, and then one class on friday mornings to finish off the week.


    Ryan took a quick picture of his schedule with his phone and then pushed the piece of paper into his bag. He also unsummoned Maximus, who was curiously watching all of this unfold until now.


    "Is there anything else I could help you with?" Harrier asked, looking at Ryan with a smile. And somehow, looking past that smile, Ryan could swear that he wasn''t just asking this question the same way that he would ask any other student.


    Harrier almost seemed... desperate to be able to do something else for Ryan, and a deep, uncomfortable gut feeling came over him, "Nothing directly... I''m friends with Yanna. Oh, uh, Yanna Redhorn. She showed me around all of the different facilities for awakened students during the break, so I''m pretty filled in. Even trained in the gym a couple times."


    "Are you sure? There''s nothing else you need? I could-"


    "Uhm... Sir... Harry, I didn''t mean to make you nervous. I didn''t tell you about who I am to get any special treatment. I just wanted us to be on the same page. You''re a vampire, and I''m going to try getting into that side of things to help you guys as well as I can."


    Though Harrier seemed a bit hesitant, he nodded his head, "I... I see... I''m sorry, the other members of the Aglecard family that attend this school have usually asked for some more... privileges."


    "... Say what?"


    Confused, Harrier straightened his back, "Well, you know, priority access to classes, special meal passes... more support to help them..." Harrier cleared his throat, "... pass classes."


    Ryan''s smile dropped, "Okay, I- First of all, I didn''t even know that there were other members of the family here at this school, and the fact that they''re doing all that is kind of ridiculous. Sorry, but who are they?"


    "You didn''t? Well, they are more ''low-key'' publicly, but there are a handful of them here. There''s a small group of them, I figured you would have taken up contact with them already. Or the other way around."


    Ryan let out a long sigh, "Sorry, I''ve been sorta... ''blacklisted'' until recently, but my uncle reversed that when I said I want to know about all this."


    "Your uncle?"


    "You know... the family head... patriarch, or whatever everyone calls him."


    Immediately, Harrier widened his eyes, staring at Ryan nervously, "You are... part of the main family? You are Runar Aglecard''s nephew? So you are..."


    Ryan figured that people would know about Hayden, his dad. Though, he guessed that this meant that people didn''t know exactly what he did, just that he committed some kind of crime to get him completely blacklisted from the family. Ryan nodded, "Yes, I''m Hayden Aglecard''s son. Listen, I don''t really care about all these family politics, I didn''t even know about any of this until a few days after I awakened. So... calm down. And... tell me what those guys are doing, I''ll tell my uncle about it and see if we can make sure they stop."


    Clearly breathing out a sigh of relief, Harrier nodded his head. He clearly still had some doubt in his eyes. Maybe it was because of Ryan''s raised sociability, though, but he seemed to have sounded as genuine as he really was. It seemed to have helped convince him.


    "Okay. So, there are other ''hidden'' students at this school. Some vampires, some ghouls, we also have a couple succubi students, and a couple singular folk. We have other students that attend online, the ones that are harder to hide appearance-wise, but those also aren''t really a variable in this case," Harrier explained, "Beyond being the Awakened Supervisor, I act as a go-between for the university and the Aglecard family. They... you provide tuition, housing money, job opportunities, and so on to those ''hidden'' students. And... well, that small group of students related to your family are, sort of, taking advantage of that fact."


    Ryan frowned, quickly understanding what Harrier meant, "Are they holding the safety and support of those other students over your head? To get you to do what they want you to do?"


    And even though Harrier neither confirmed nor denied, he didn''t need to either. Ryan knew what the answer to that question was. And it made him sick to even think about, "Well, okay then."


    Getting up from his seat, Ryan threw on his backpack and grabbed his helmet, "Give me one of their names, and tell me where I can find one of them. I still have some time until my first class."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan looked down at his phone, trying to double-check that he was at the right place. He was standing in front of the study room that the ''Aglecard Brats'', as Ryan dubbed them in his head, permanently reserved for themselves using Harrier''s authority. Apparently just one of them was an Awakened with a class that was fairly rare these days, and that was enough to justify this to the school, somehow.


    Well, that made things easy for Ryan. At least it meant that he could talk to these guys without needing to worry about others overhearing what was going on. And, as a bonus, the fact that one of them was an Awakened meant that if things got a bit out of control and Ryan felt like dusting off his fists for the first time in a while, he wouldn''t commit a severe crime. Well, beating up other Awakened was a crime akin to an unawakened beating up another unawakened, which meant that it was up to the ''victim'' to pursue it. Though, considering Ryan''s position, it was very unlikely that anything would happen here.


    So, Ryan knocked on the door. Not exactly lightly either. There were some footsteps on the other side, and the door quickly opened up, though just enough to show the person that opened it. It was a woman, probably a few years older than him, with a buzzcut and tons of piercings looking up at Ryan, "Yeah?"


    "You guys belong to the Aglecard family, right?" Ryan asked, not beating around the bush. The woman in front of him seemed taken aback, looking into the room behind her. Some more footsteps, and soon, the door was pulled open all the way. The guy standing in front of her practically towered over Ryan. He had blue skin and tusks like an orc, but his facial features seemed a lot more... elvish. His thinner-than-usual build and his long ears seemed to point toward something pretty unusual. A hybrid. Though inter-species births were rare, they did happen sometimes. Since orcs, humans, and elves were not only amongst the most common in Riveria, but also were more closely related than many other species, when you saw a hybrid around here it was usually a combination between two of those three. Though, while surprising, it wasn''t worth more than that passing thought to Ryan.


    "And who''re you?" he asked, and Ryan smiled lightly. The man in front of him was tall and didn''t have an exactly kind expression, but Ryan didn''t back down either.


    "I''m Ryan. Ryan Aglecard. And I''m pretty sure there''s something we have to talk about," he said, as he pushed his way into the study room.

 129 - Unfair

    The door was shut quickly, and Ryan took a brief look around himself. There were five people in here. The girl that opened the door for him, the hybrid, and three more of their friends. Ryan had seen one of them before. He was in the robotics club, and was even there the day everything went down with Gaia''s fragment.


    "What did you say? Ryan Aglecard?" the hybrid asked, and that was answered with a short nod.


    "Yup. You guys are also-"


    "Aren''t you blacklisted or something?" one of the other three, the one that was in the robotics club, asked. It seemed after hearing Ryan''s full name, he looked into him a bit more. That was before Ryan was told about all of this, so they might not know he isn''t blacklisted anymore.


    With a sigh, he shook his head, "Not anymore. My uncle undid that a couple weeks ago."


    Scoffing, four of them laughed. The hybrid was the only one that didn''t, "Your uncle? And who''s that supposed to be?"


    Slightly confused, Ryan stared at the hybrid, "I... Wait, do you all not know? My uncle is Runar Aglecard. I''m Hayden Aglecard''s son."


    The moment he mentioned those two names, everyone in the room beside Ryan himself tensed up, "You''re- Holy shit, you''re actually from the main family? And not just that... you''re direct lineage?"


    "Mhm," Ryan said with a smile on his face, trying to be nice before he explained why exactly he was here, "So-"


    The hybrid interrupted Ryan with a scoff. He had a broad grin on his face, showing off his small tusks, "You''re the traitor''s son, huh? So what are you here for?"


    Of course, Ryan knew that he was right. His dad was basically a ''traitor'', and that''s why he was excised from the family, "... First of all, how about some introductions. I told you my name, so tell me yours."


    With a slight sigh, the hybrid nodded, "Sure, whatever," he pointed at the girl with the buzzcut next to him, "Macy Garling," and then pointed at a young man with bright dyed green hair, "Her twin brother, James Garling."


    Ryan nodded at each of them, looking over at the elf in the corner, "I already know Mark, from the robotics club."


    "Mhm. Then right next to him is Jasmin Stier. And I''m Kim Aglecard," the hybrid said, and Ryan looked at him, a little taken aback. This was Kim? That was the name that Harrier had told him, but somehow, Ryan didn''t expect this to be him. And it was clear that Kim himself noticed that.


    He sighed, "What, confused why I look how I look? Did you think that there were only humans in the main family? My father was adopted by your great-grandfather. Basically, I''m Runar''s cousin."


    "... Seriously?" Ryan''s smile immediately dropped. The air in the room changed quickly.


    "Hold on, are you serious? You''re upset that you have someone that''s not a human share your precious last-" Macy glared at Ryan, clearly angry, but she flinched back when she saw the expression that Ryan was giving off.


    "Why would I give a shit about something like that? What I am upset about is that someone in his position would act as he does," Ryan said, locking eyes with Kim, "What the fuck is wrong with you? You''re going around, abusing your position instead of doing something helpful with your time?"


    Kim stared down at Ryan, "And what would you know? You''ve been a part of the family for a couple weeks, and you already think you''re an expert? Do you even know about what we do in the family? Have you even met one of the hidden folk?"


    Even more confused, Ryan nodded his head, "Of course I have. I hang out with them all the time. I literally spent all of Spirit Week trying to liven up one of the havens."


    "Oh, really?" James laughed out from his seat, "Then tell us one thing about them that you-"


    "Sprites like to play pranks, but the best way to get them away from you is by giving them something to play around with and copy, so I usually carry some small figurines with me to distract them. Dryads are similar, but they more do it because they''re bored. From what I can tell, they really like music, so I brought them a speaker and an MP3 player and they warmed up to me afterward. Geodes are still a little tough for me, but I''m trying to learn their language, but you know, looking at their light pulses for too long kind of hurts my eyes. Vampires are-"


    "Okay, fine, we get it," Kim interrupted Ryan with a sigh. It was clear that none of them expected Ryan to actually be able to tell them anything about this, "But still, what are you talking about, ''abusing my position''? I''m not doing anything like that."


    "Harry told me that you guys are using the fact you''re part of the family to get special treatment, and are holding the support of the ''hidden'' students attending the school over his head."


    With a long groan, Kim shook his head, "That''s not technically what happened. We just... you know, suggested that it''s in Harrier''s own interest to... make sure we''re happy and relaxed, so we can take proper care of those students. You get it, right? If you''re worried about failing or stressed about extracurriculars, you just don''t have the time for... other things."


    Kim placed a hand onto Ryan''s shoulder, putting some pressure onto him. He was... strong. And of course, considering his height and stature, Ryan expected him to be strong, but it was more than just that. This was an effect of the strength stat. But... it didn''t seem like it was particularly high just yet. He spent enough time with Yanna and some of the other guys at the university''s gym to know what it felt like when someone had high strength.


    This wasn''t an innate stat, it was one that was awakened later on. Kim wasn''t a physical awakened. Ryan glanced around the room. One of the two empty seats had books in front of it. Some sort of chemistry stuff, but it didn''t look like a book that the university used as teaching material. Kim also had a slight medicinal smell to him. It was similar to the room that Rose made everything for the animals in the haven in. Kim was an expertise class. He was trying to act strong, but clearly he wasn''t a fighter.


    With a sigh, Ryan swatted Kim''s hand away, "Get off your high horse. Why would you do any of that? You''re part of the Aglecard family. You''re set no matter how you do in school, so just-"


    Before Ryan could finish speaking, the others in the room started to laugh. It was a mixture of finding genuine humour in what Ryan was saying and absolute disbelief that someone would say something so ridiculous.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Kim stared at Ryan, "Do you seriously think that? That we''re ''set no matter how we do''? I guess you really have only been a part of the family for a few weeks. Do you have any idea what life in this family is like?"


    Ryan didn''t answer. Because of course he didn''t. He had no answer to that question. He knew that things weren''t as easy as they were for him, of course. He was the Spirit Keeper; he would be fine no matter what. Rather, he didn''t have to do anything at all, and the Aglecard family would finance his entire life, most likely. Maybe that was also why they supported Modak and Silvia as much as they did... or it could also just be the type of person that Runar was and how he liked to do things.


    "I guess you don''t. Listen, I guess your uncle is protecting you or something, but life in our family is fucking hell, alright? If we don''t do well enough, if we''re not good enough, we''re out. Either, we''re thrown out of the family altogether, or we''re put into some dead-end position that we can''t escape from for the rest of our lives, unless we choose to leave the family on our own. And you know what it means to leave the family," Kim seemed to grow more upset as he spoke. He was very clearly getting angry at what Ryan had just said. At the fact that Ryan acted like everyone would have the same experience that he did.


    "... Okay, fine. I''m very privileged to be in the position I''m in, I get it. But even so, why are you taking it out on the fucking ''hidden'' students. Don''t they already have it hard enough?"


    "Hard enough? Those guys are getting handouts from the family. They get apartments sponsored, their tuition is fully paid, they even get job referrals, and what do we get? Jack shit," with a scoff, Kim crossed his arms, "And all they have to do is lie a little bit. It''s unfair."


    Ryan frowned, "Lie a little- dude, what the hell are you talking about? Vampires can''t eat normally, succubi have to be scared to get assaulted wherever they go. Pixies are sold like fucking pets. Do you even know what their lives are like?"


    "Okay, don''t fucking talk like that. Sure, you might have met them, but what do you even know? Sheltered little prince," Kim laughed, and so did the others. The hybrid quickly rolled up his sleeve, revealing a scar covering his forearm, "Want to know what this is? I got it from a psycho pyromancer while I was trying to defend one of those vampires during my training after I awakened."


    "So? Looks like it healed well," Ryan pointed out. Sure, getting burned hurts like hell, but he didn''t understand why that was a reason to hate vampires.


    Mark, the one from the robotics club, sighed, "Kim, just don''t bother with him. He just likes playing with toys, he doesn''t understand what a real fight is like."


    This time, it was Ryan''s turn to laugh, "Dude, seriously? How far are you guys stuck up your own ass. Especially you, Mark, I know that everyone in the robotics club was scared of me because of the stories about me."


    "Stories can be exaggerated. I doubt you got into anything more than a little kerfuffle every once in a while," Mark sighed. Ryan raised a brow. With how often he was walking around with his scars visible these days, he totally forgot that people at university hadn''t seen them yet. His left arm was revealed, but that was just because Ryan didn''t want Tiar to get too hot under his clothes. His right arm was still covered by a sleeve.


    Rolling his eyes, Ryan dropped his bag and his helmet, and quickly grabbed the bottom of his shirt. While everyone in the room was confused about what he was doing, Ryan pulled his shirt off, particularly showing his back, "I know what getting burned feels like, man. Got these when I was a kid. After my dad died, my mom was trying to provide for us as much as she could, and ended up with a freak that thought it was fine to throw kids onto hot coals. Meanwhile, my uncle just let it all happen until it was too late," he explained, pulling his shirt back down, only leaving it pulled up enough to show the scars of the bullet-wound he got a few weeks ago, "This one? I got shot by some psychos working for the White Shadow Society. So you don''t get to fucking tell me that I don''t know what it''s like to be hurt, or that I don''t know what''s at stake, or that I''m not a real part of the family."


    The room was silent as Ryan fixed up his clothes again, "Again, I get it. I hate parts of the family as well, but what the fuck does that have to do with people who have to be scared for their lives with people like the Shadows running around?"


    Kim was silent for a few moments, unsure about what to say. Instead of him, Macy said something, "Well, again, what''d you want us to do? Kim is gonna be fine, but we don''t have any hope of awakening or anything. Mark got the robotics stuff going for him-"


    "Thanks again for ruining that, by the way," Mark groaned, and Macy continued.


    "... right, and even then, when people go around fucking with everything, there''s no real hope of us standing out. We have to be exemplary to get anywhere in the family. So what if we use some tricks to get to where we need to be? Who are you to tell us that we''re wrong, running around with a fucking symbiote on your arm. Sure, you got hurt a bit, but so what? Doesn''t mean you should get to live out the rest of our life lazing around while the rest of us have to work our asses off to get anywhere in life."


    Ryan stared at Macy. What the hell were they talking about? Lazing around? Ryan never even thought about lazing around, what the hell were they talking about? He was literally losing so much sleep because of how much he studied up on the hidden folk and spirits and the Aglecard family in general, not to mention how much training he did to get to level 10 and awaken some physical stats.


    "Alright. Tell me, what do you want to do for the family?" Ryan asked, locking eyes with Macy.


    "Huh?"


    "You say you''re working your ass off, so I doubt you''re not aiming for anything in particular. So, what are your plans? What division do you want to get into? What have you been doing to make that happen?" Ryan asked, glancing around the room. The only one that was really studying up on anything was Kim, the others were just here to relax and have fun.


    But before Macy, or any of the others, could say anything, Kim stood back up from his seat, "Get the fuck out."


    "Not until you promise to stop using your position to get what you want."


    "Fuck no, we''ll do what we can to get ahead. Again, just get out before I make you," Kim said. He pushed his hand under his jacket, and Ryan could hear the slight ringing of glass hitting glass.


    "Try your worst," Ryan replied. Maybe his increased sociability made it easier for him to act as though he wasn''t, but frankly, Ryan was pissed off. So, so pissed off. He was just itching for a fight.


    Kim pulled a small bottle out from under his jacket, pouring out the contents toward Ryan with a quick motion. Ryan had no idea what it was, but it was green and opaque, almost sludge-like. He covered his face with his right hand, pulling Tiar away from whatever was thrown at the two of them. The green liquid hit Ryan, and immediately, a heat started emanating from it. Not a painful heat; just warmth that showed that something was happening.


    Before he could react, the liquid that stuck to him like glue started bubbling and foaming, growing in size and enveloping Ryan''s whole arm. But it didn''t stop there, growing to cover the entire right side of his body. Even when Ryan tried to get rid of it, it was so sticky that he had no hope at all. When it finally stopped growing, the sludge began to harden rapidly, locking Ryan in.


    "... Huh," Ryan let out, while the others in the room were chuckling.


    "Seriously, Kim, that one? Isn''t that a bit unfair?" James laughed, but the hybrid shrugged with a grin.


    "He had it coming. Come on, guys, classes are starting soon. Let''s check up on our little friend... at the end of the day?"


    Ryan looked at the hardened foam, grinning lightly, "You''re an alchemist?"


    Kim looked at Ryan, taken aback, "Yeah, so?"


    "You made a big mistake."


    "Yeah, yeah, you''re gonna beat me up when you get out if this? Sure, just try," Kim sighed, getting his books together while everyone was getting up from their seats. But really, Ryan didn''t even have to try. Gaia quickly stepped out of her domain, her size doubled. With just a few quick motions, she swiped the hardened foam away to the point that Ryan was able to move again, while the five ''Aglecard Brats'' stood there, stunned at what just happened.


    The four beside Kim tried to block the way around the table in the centre of the room, but Ryan just jumped onto the table. The startled Kim pushed his back against the wall, trying to grab another bottle from his jacket, but Ryan just squatted at the table, staring at Kim with a broad grin. He grabbed the Horn of Shapeless water, making it turn into an icy baseball bat that he held toward Kim''s face, making him freeze up.


    "First, I''m going to make sure we all know where we stand. And then... I''ve got a small proposal for you."

 130 - Recruitment

    His back pressed against the wall, Kim Aglecard stared at the young man in front of him. Though, most of his view was blocked by what appeared to be a baseball bat made of ice. Where the hell did that come from?


    Mark had mentioned Ryan before, though just briefly after all that stuff at the Robotics club went down, and it sounded he was just some kind of summoner. But he was able to use magic like this as well? And from all those wounds scattered around his body, it was clear that Ryan wouldn''t hesitate to actually use this bat either.


    "Make sure where we all stand?" Kim asked, laughing nervously, "What''s that supposed to mean?"


    But Ryan just kept squatting on the table, holding forward the bat. He really, really wasn''t playing around, and if the little combat training Kim got told him anything, it was that this was a dangerous situation for him to be in. Though his ''intuition'' stat wasn''t tuned for combat whatsoever, he really didn''t even need it to be for him to realize that.


    As Kim looked at Ryan, in the background right behind him, Macy was walking around the table. She was trying to find a good position. From the corner of the room, she quietly grabbed one of the glass bottles from one of the crates of beer. There wasn''t much else to make use of here. Kim glanced to the side for just a moment as Macy pulled back her arm. Ryan noticed, and let out a slight sigh as Macy tried to throw the bottle at the back of his head.


    He didn''t even move, and it wasn''t like he had to. To the others in the room, this might seem like a five-versus-one, but of course... this was a five-versus-five. For just a brief moment, Kim could see Ryan''s eyes spark up with five different, intermingling colours of mana. Maximus jumped out of the back of Ryan''s head, catching the glass bottle. Before even landing on the ground, he threw the bottle across the room, where Jester was already vaulting toward. He caught the bottle, quickly returning it to its original position in the crate.


    Gaia formed her body on the table, jumping down while Ryan undid her seal so that she could block the door and stop everyone from getting out. And, though Ryan thought it was maybe a little extreme, Gregor pulled out one of his machines from Ryan''s backpack. Just in case, he always carried at least one with him, for emergencies.


    Gregor lifted it up onto the table and set it up properly. Mark was the first to realize what was going on and froze up, staring at the miniature cannon that could flip around and shoot at literally a moment''s notice.


    "... You''ve... got a few more spirits than before," Mark laughed awkwardly, staring at Gregor, "And this one''s a technology spirits, huh?"


    "Artillerist."


    "Huh?"


    "Gregor is an Artillerist Spirit. Maximus is a Knight, Jester is a Harlequin, and Gaia is a Garden Golem," Ryan explained, pulling the bat away from Kim. He stopped squatting on the table and sat down on its edge instead, still making sure to stare at the man in front of him, "What do you guys know about the Spirit Keeper?"


    "Spirit Keeper?" Macy asked, "What''s that supposed to be?"


    The others seemed similarly confused. Mark seemed to recognize it a little, but only from hearing it be mentioned at the robotics club. But Kim... he heard about it before. He glanced at the Spirits around the room.


    "... You don''t have a unique class at all."


    Ryan smiled, "You heard about it, huh?"


    He was glad. That would mean that Ryan wouldn''t need to explain things too much.


    "What''s that supposed to mean? What''s a ''Spirit Keeper''?" Mark asked, only slightly glancing away from Gregor.


    And Kim crossed his arms, "It''s... I don''t know a ton about it, because people just kind of stopped talking about it at some point. But after I awakened and got my basic training, I read something about it. It''s the class that the family''s founder had. There''s one at a time, and we usually tried to bring the Spirit Keeper back into our family, so that we can protect spirits, or something like that."


    Ryan quickly nodded his head, "Mhm, basically. But it''s not all spirits; specifically, it''s spirits without the ability to form bodies or use their abilities on their own. So, instead, the Spirit Keeper acts as a go-between. We build their bodies, and they use their abilities with our bodies as their conduit," he explained, "There''s a bit more to it, but I won''t get into it."


    Turning around to Mark, Ryan continued, "Some time ago... the spirits'' cores were scattered and fragmented. They lost most their memories, and were basically deeply injured, and sometimes crippled. Gaia''s core was one that was fragmented. Basically, cut into three pieces. I had found one, and then when Maximus and I wanted to do some training at the robotics club, another one just walked into the room."


    Mark widened his eyes, "Wait, what? Did that spirit''s core have something to do with the rampage?"


    "Yup. The white shadow society infected a fragment with corruption, and gave it to Vanda so she could use it in her robot. She didn''t know, of course, she just thought it was a magic stone with tons of mana inside of it. Like a super-powered battery. It was supposed to go on its rampage the day after, during-"


    "During the showcase. But because you were there, the corruption took hold earlier and... well, all that shit happened," Mark sighed, looking over at Gaia, "And that fragment belonged to this thing?"


    "... Her name is Gaia. If you call her ''this thing'' again, I''m actually going to use this," Ryan held up the ice-bat, "But... yes. We destroyed the rampaging robot and retrieved the core fragment."


    Mark finally filled in some gaps about something that he had been wondering about for a while, but Kim was the one that asked the next question, "Why are you telling us all this?"


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    As if it were obvious, Ryan looked at the hybrid with a raised brow, "As I said, I''m making sure we all know where we stand. I was going to just beat you up first, but... you''re pretty useful in other ways. So, I''m going to make sure we''re on the same page about some things."


    Though Kim seemed even more confused, Ryan continued, "Throughout the past twenty years since the cores were scattered and fragmented, the Aglecard family has been able to find two whole cores, one of which was unresponsive, and two cores of which they have less than half of each. Even before I learned of all this, I gathered one whole core, Maximus, and two thirds of Gaia. And after that, I awakened and repaired Gaia, woke up the unresponsive core, got the help of an uncooperative spirit, found a cure for corruption, and was invited to meet Goria face to face. Which is where I got this thing," once again, Ryan held up the ice-bat.


    The others were trying to follow what he was saying. Kim was clearly more than just puzzled by everything he was just told, or rather by why Ryan was saying all this, but Macy once again came in hot.


    "We get it, you''re so awesome, and so much better than us. We get it. You''re a true Aglecard prince, is that what you wanted us to know?" Macy asked, and Ryan quickly turned toward her, shaking his head.


    "Nah, fuck that. That''s not what I''m saying. What I am saying is that despite being the son to someone that did something so abhorrent he was stripped of his position as future head and was blacklisted, after everything I''ve done, I''m valuable enough that even those shitty elders can''t touch me anymore," Ryan pointed out, a slight grin forming on his face. And that confused everyone here even more, "You five are angry, I get it. You hate the way things are going in the family. How things work here. But don''t take it out on people that have no say in all this, people that are just victims in this whole situation. Victims of the world and the fucked-up politics and decisions of our family."


    He could tell. Ryan was winning them over. So now, he just needed the last push, "Instead, let''s fuck over the family and change how we do all this. And I think I could use your help with that."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan walked out of the study room ahead of everyone else. They were still thinking about the offer that he had made after explaining it more, but he was pretty sure they would actually consider it. With how angry they seemed to be at the family, they had to want to mess things up and change things.


    Hearing some footsteps behind him, Ryan turned around. Kim had run after him, "Are you serious about this?"


    "Of course I am. Why would I joke about something like that?" he replied, and Kim frowned deeply.


    "I just... don''t know why you would want to do all that. You''re in an amazing position, and you can do basically whatever the hell you want. You''re not like us... you actually have a future in the family," the hybrid pointed out. Ryan sighed.


    "Listen, dude. I''ll be fine, either way. With, or without the family. Even if I were to get blacklisted again, I could live somehow. Maybe I wouldn''t be able to swim in gild, but I could be happy as long as I can be around my friends and do the things that I think are right. But the way things are in the family... well, I may be able to have all the money I want, but none of this is right. Things aren''t going like they should be," he pointed out, "And all the money in the world isn''t enough for me to sell my fucking soul."


    "You... you want to rebel against the family just because you don''t think the way some vampires are being treated is right?"


    "Come on, man, you have to hear how fucked up what you''re saying is, right? ''Some vampires''? They''re people, man. Like..."


    "No, I-I get it, sorry," Kim rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Just so you know, but we wouldn''t have really messed with the hidden students. We just wanted to feel like we''re actually... worth something. We probably went a bit too far, but that makes this even more confusing. Why do you want us to join you?"


    Ryan smiled lightly, "... After class today, come to Caf¨¦ Runic. Make sure to bring the others, I''ll explain the rest then if you want. And we can take the opportunity to just clear the air between us a bit."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Pulling onto the sidewalk next to the caf¨¦, Ryan quickly saw the five visitors already there, sitting on the bench in front of the store. He parked the bike and pulled off his helmet, "Sorry, have you guys been waiting long?"


    "Not too long," Kim sighed, "More importantly, what did you call us here for?"


    "No... more importantly," James stepped up to Ryan, staring down at the bike, "Isn''t this a 1323 GTY Magika?"


    Ryan looked down at the bike, "Uh... I think so, yeah."


    "Man, I haven''t seen one of these outside of pictures! She''s a real beauty, isn''t she?" James squatted down and took a closer look, "In prime condition, even! Actually, I think someone swapped out the- Hold on, does this have a mana injector? Dude, that''s sick!"


    Not sure what to say, Ryan just looked down at the spot that James was ogling, "If you say so, I have no idea, really."


    "You have no idea? Dude, come on, this is your bike, right?"


    "Since literally a day ago. It belonged to Yamada until then. She probably took real good care of it," he pointed out, though Ryan was quickly taken aback by the stares of the others, "... Did I say something weird?"


    Kim cleared his throat, "Uhm... you just said Yamada, right? As in, Yamada Hiero? The gunslinger?"


    Though Ryan was a bit surprised, he really shouldn''t have been. After all, if people in the family would know about anyone, they would know about Runar. And then, knowing about his aides wasn''t all too far-fetched either. Especially since Yamada and Anders were both pretty strong.


    "That''s her, yeah. She''s a... ''great'' driver. She''s really into cars and stuff," Ryan explained as he walked up to the caf¨¦''s front door. Of course, the store was closed right now, but Ryan had a key.


    "What''s she like otherwise? Is she funny? I''m sure she''s funny," Macy said with a curious grin on her face, and Ryan shrugged as he let everyone in.


    "She''s ''fun'', but I don''t know about ''funny''. Though, we usually only text, I don''t know sign-language well enough to understand the nuances of her humour yet," Ryan pointed out, and Macy looked at him confused.


    "Sign language? What do you mean?"


    With a frown, Ryan replied, "Because she''s... deaf?"


    "She''s deaf?!" Macy let out, shocked, and Ryan immediately looked around with a panicked expression.


    "Wait, is that not public knowledge?"


    Kim slightly slapped Macy''s shoulder, "It is, she''s just fucking with you. Anyway, why are we here? I mean, I guess if this place is closed we can talk all we want, but we could have just done that in our study room."


    With a relieved sigh, happy that he didn''t accidentally reveal some kind of personal secret, Ryan locked the door behind everyone again to make sure nobody could accidentally come inside, "We''re not here to talk, we''re heading downstairs to the haven."


    Confused, the five looked at Ryan, "Haven? There''s a haven nearby?"


    Ryan nodded, "Yeah, like literally downstairs. The entrance is in the basement."


    "Why would there be an entrance to a haven in a random caf¨¦?" Kim asked, and Ryan stopped walking.


    "Oh. Okay. So... I guess I did just reveal a secret. Uh, whatever, not that it matters, the elders already know anyway as far as I''m aware," Ryan sighed, "This place is Runar''s caf¨¦. It''s like a hobby project or front or whatever, I don''t know. But Runar makes good coffee, so whatever. We live right above here."


    "Wait... what? You live above this place? You live above a haven?"


    "Well, yeah. Runar manages the haven personally. His main office is downstairs as well," Ryan opened up the door to the back and led everyone into the basement. It was clear that they were curious about what was going on, but they didn''t quite know what to say or ask about, "He''s out right now, though, so we''ve got some time to talk after I introduce you guys to everyone."

 131 - Burn it down

    "Urgh... How much further down do these steps go?" Macy groaned loudly. Rolling his eyes from the back of the group, Ryan sighed.


    "Just a little bit longer. The underground havens need to be low enough to not be found during any sort of construction," he pointed out, "But you already know that, right?"


    "Yes, of course we do," barking out a reply, Macy snapped her head back.


    "Sorry, sorry, it just seems like you guys are a lot less involved in stuff than I thought. Didn''t you all grow up in the family?"


    "Yes, but they''re all from branch families," Kim started to explain from the front, "The branch families act largely as support to the main family. Each one is great at some parts, but sort of miss out on others. The Garlings, for example, are the archivists. They handle all sorts of information, data, all that stuff. They''re also the ones that take care of different artefacts."


    Ryan nodded. He was familiar with that name. That branch family''s elder was Orion Ragir Garling-Aglecard. It was the one that ''took care'' of Liam, or rather, trapped him in some kind of medieval theme park. Considering that they''re part of that branch family, Macy and James were surprisingly normal. He would have expected they would be more ''medieval'' as well, though it was probably wrong to assume every member of the branch family would be like their elder. Though it was also surprising that they still seemed a little out of the loop. Maybe it was just a difference between ''knowing'' and ''doing''. Even though they may have been told a lot of things, it could all seem a bit abstract until they properly encounter what it is they have learned about.


    "Then there are the Stiers, Jasmin''s family. They''re generally the ones that do a large amount of the background work. Bureaucrats, managers, things like that," Kim continued. Ryan glanced at Jasmin. She hadn''t said even a single word since he''s met her, just nodding at him. It seemed like she was on the quiet side, which fit the ''bureaucrat'' vibe somehow, "And Mark''s family, the Orats, are the craftsmen. They''re the ones that make most of the special-equipment for the upper branch."


    "But don''t think that means I can make stuff for you," Mark said, trying to lock eyes with Ryan, though it was a little hard to do with the spiralling stairway''s wall in the middle.


    And from Ryan''s point of view, he didn''t even need Mark to do anything like that in the first place, "That''s fine. Silvia started learning some stuff from a few craftsmen, she''s the one that made most of my equipment until now. And she''s only getting better. It looks like she''s going to reach level 10 soon, so a new skill should pop up. She''s been pretty excited for that."


    "Wait, what?" Mark turned around, almost tripping down the stairs, "Level 10- She awakened?"


    "Yeah, she''s got a fairly rare artist class. Things she makes that she considers ''art'' can have special effects to them. I can show you some of that in a second," Ryan said, as the group finally reached the bottom of the stairs. It opened up into a hallway, and Ryan quickly pushed his way through to the front so that he could open the stone door at the other end. It opened up to the fresh smell of flowers, and Ryan smiled lightly, stepping through while looking around, "There you are! Your buds finally blossomed, awesome!"


    The others followed behind him confused, unsure what was going on. They had gone down so much, but they were surrounded by thick bushes and trees, like they were in a forest. And who was Ryan talking to? He was just standing in front of some kind of shrub. Though... that shrub soon started to move. Everyone could see what appeared to be a young man made out of vines, leaves and branches, intertwined together. All over his body were small pink flowers that had, apparently, just blossomed today.


    Ryan turned toward the group, "This is one of the dryads living down here. They don''t really talk so they don''t have names, but they each usually stick to a unique appearance that they like the best, so you can tell them apart pretty well. Alright, come on," though the others were a bit surprised, Ryan quickly brought them further into the haven. They stepped out of the small woods, and then into the outskirts of the hidden village. People were walking around, doing their everyday tasks and following their routines.


    Most of them didn''t have things they had to do, but following a routine made it easier for them, anyway.


    "This is a haven..?" Kim asked, looking around. The walls of the cave, the crystals at the top providing light. And of course, the ancient buildings that had been fixed up here and there over the years as this space had become used more and more. But, even so, all these buildings were older than most of New Riverside. It wasn''t just like they stepped into a cave, they stepped into the past. Particularly Macy and James seemed taken aback.


    "Seriously? What, is Runar also into history or something?" Macy groaned loudly, almost shuddering as she looked around.


    "Not as far as I know. I''m more into history than he is, at least," walking forward further into the village, Ryan waved at everyone and greeted them as he usually did, "But, well... This is what havens are like, I guess. Apparently not all of them are here in caves or anything, but the overall conditions probably aren''t much better in other havens than here. Ah..."


    Realizing something, Ryan took a step to the side. Confused, the others looked at him as he was just standing there. He was counting down in his head. Soon, a slight buzzing could be heard, and a bright blur shot through the air, "Hey there, Penny. I told you not to come flying at me like that," Ryan smiled, as the pixie hugged the side of his face. He held his hand backward. Something was moving inside of his backpack, and Jester''s head soon popped out, holding one of the wrapped pieces of candy that Ryan carried with him for Penny. He gave it to Ryan, before his body fell apart into mana again.


    After quickly unwrapping the candy, Ryan gave it to Penny, who excitedly took it, "That was Penny, a pixie that was recently rescued. She''s a little clingy, but, well... she''s a kid, so I can''t really hold it against her. And she''s not the only one, either," Ryan smiled, as Penny sat down on the top of his head while enjoying her piece of candy. She tried to cover herself a bit with his hair, since the others were staring at her a bit too intensely.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "... Even I''ve never met a pixie before," Kim pointed out quietly, while Ryan laughed.


    "Well, she was actually the first ''hidden'' person I met. Well, as far as I''m aware, at least," he explained, "She was saved from an auction where she was almost sold off to some weirdo creep."


    "... Should you say that with her right there?" Mark whispered, and Ryan shrugged.


    "I mean, yeah, they''re mute and deaf, so she can''t hear what I say anyway."


    "Then why did you say you told her not to fly at you like that?"


    Macy let out a long sigh, "Pixies have the innate ability to sense all magic, and that''s how they communicate. That pixie probably learned how to understand other people through the mana they passively give off, though that probably only works with Awakened whose mana has been strengthened through the system..." she explained, crossing her arms, "Ryan probably pulls in his mana to not touch her when he says something he doesn''t want her to hear."


    "That''s... just right, actually, yeah. I mean, it''s kind of hard to pull away the mana that''s already outside of my body like that, but at the same time, it''s good practice."


    They continued on through the village. Ryan spoke to some of the people down here, asking if they needed anything, and helped out a bit here and there. Of course, he didn''t let those five just stand around; they also helped out whenever Ryan told them to. He just brushed off any question about who the five of them were. Though, that only worked out for a little while.


    As Ryan made his way over toward the forge elemental to feed her for the day, he was stopped. Kim placed a hand onto Ryan''s shoulder, "Hey, uh... Who... or, what is that?"


    From down the trodden dirt path, a person in a hazmat suit came rushing toward the group.


    "Wait, is there something toxic down here?" Mark asked nervously, but Ryan just sighed.


    "No, that''s Rose. She works for the family. She''s a zoologist, taking care of the different animals we have down here," he quickly explained, "Her being here is why we have so many animals here. Just wait for a second, I''ll talk to her and explain some things."


    Stopping Rose, Ryan pulled her away out of earshot of the group. Of course, for what Ryan was planning on doing, Runar couldn''t know about this. Or at least, he had to make sure that he wouldn''t suspect anything even if one of the other people living down here told him that there were visitors, "Rose! How are you? I saw that the new fencing for the cockatrice enclosure finally came, it''s looking pretty-"


    "Who are those guys?" Rose asked, looking past Ryan with clear anxiety in her voice, and he quickly let out a sigh. He just had to calm her down and convince her to keep this a secret, and things would be fine.


    "Don''t worry, they''re part of the family. Kim''s even part of the main family. I don''t know if they''ve met, but Kim is Runar''s cousin," Ryan explained, pointing at the hybrid that was looking in their direction, "The other four are part of branch families. They''re in the know, they''ve just never been in a haven before, so I figured I would give them a small tour."


    "I, uh... did you talk to your uncle about this?"


    "Nope, and I would prefer if he didn''t find out."


    "... Are you okay? Are they threatening you?"


    Ryan let out an involuntary scoff, "No, technically it was more like the other way around. They... well, they''ve caused some trouble at uni. I''m not sure if you know, but the Awakened supervisor is a vampire, and the family''s contact at the university to make sure that the hidden folk can properly attend. These five sort of used their position to get some benefits at the school. I heard about it and got a bit pissed, so... I''m trying to get them to turn away from that kind of stuff."


    Up until this point, he wasn''t even lying. Rather, he was only going to leave out a few details from the story after this anyway.


    Rose looked at them, clearly upset at what she just heard, "And why would you help guys like that?"


    "I''m also not the best guy, you know? If I had grown up in the family, I might have turned out a lot more like them than the person I am now," Ryan explained, "I just want to get them on the right path. Plus... I''m pretty sure you''re also aware that it''s going to be pretty hard for me to find people in the family that will work with me."


    Though she wanted to protest, Rose stopped herself. With who Ryan''s father was, the majority of the family was basically set up against him. The only reason he was able to act as freely as he wanted was because of Runar, "Okay, sure... but why do you want to kee p it a secret from Runar? Just explain it to him, I''m sure he''ll understand!"


    "He''s got plenty on his plate right now, anyway. And I''m not telling you to lie, just... downplay things a bit if he hears and asks about it. Kim''s an Awakened, but he''s an expertise Awakened."


    "Hm... I don''t know..."


    Ryan grinned lightly. Convincing Rose probably wouldn''t be too hard, since she was already on the fence, "He''s an alchemist, you know? Haven''t you been complaining about how long it takes to get the more complicated medicines down here?"


    "He''s an... are you sure? Really? Do you think he would help make some medicine?"


    "Oh, I''m sure he will, I just need to whittle him down a little longer and he should be ready to help out soon enough," Ryan said, smiling broadly. Though she was still hesitant, Rose clearly couldn''t let up a chance like that.


    "I... maybe could just act like this isn''t a big deal... Though, if they''re family, it''s not like it really is a big deal in the first place..."


    "Exactly! So there''s no need to make Runar worry at a time like this, right?"


    "Right," Rose nodded, continuing to glance over at Kim, "Uhm... tell me when you think he could help me, okay?"


    "Of course! Now, just don''t worry, and keep doing your work. I''ve got the forge elemental, as always," Ryan basically pushed Rose away, so that she wouldn''t talk to the others. He didn''t want them to accidentally say something that could sway Rose into telling Runar already.


    With a relieved sigh, Ryan stepped back over to the group, "Alright, let''s keep going."


    "Wait, what was that about? Are we... not supposed to be down here?" Kim asked, confused, "Did you not tell your uncle about this?"


    "Dude... I brought you here to convince you to join me in changing the way the family works. Fuck no, I didn''t tell the current patriarch. Just calm down, don''t do anything stupid, and follow me," Ryan told them, but the only thing that he heard in response was a scoff from Macy.


    "How is this supposed to convince us? You''re just giving us a tour like we''re tourists."


    "So what, it''s not working? You''re not seeing how horribly these guys are treated despite the ''we''re trying to protect them'' stuff?"


    Silence. None of them were able to say anything in response to that, so Ryan continued, "You guys have the freedom to mess up and be shitty. You have the power and the privilege to abuse in the first place. These guys? If they mess up, they''re... done. And it fucking sucks. I get that we need to protect them, because the shadows will try to fuck with their lives as much as they can, but... that doesn''t mean we should lock them up in a cave."


    Kim slowly spoke up, "So, what are you thinking? What''s your big, important plan?"


    "Well... one of the biggest things our family does right now is protect these guys. And the whole point of the White Shadow Society is to try and eradicate them. But both of them are doing everything in their power to keep their very existence a secret," Ryan said, basically spelling his plan out to everyone. They clearly understood, but they were all stopping themselves from speaking up, as if just acknowledging the plan would make them accomplices in it. All of them, except Jasmin, the one who had been silent this entire time.


    "You''re going to burn down the walls around hidden folk. Hell yeah, I''m in."

 132 - Proud

    "Hold on, what do you mean, you''re in? You''re just going to help him?" Macy stared at the usually silent member of the group, Jasmin, who was unable to contain her grin anymore.


    "Fuck yeah, I am. All this garbage classism between the top branch and us has been pissing me off for a while now. This sounds like a pretty damn good way to pay them back a bit, no?"


    The others in the group looked at each other for a moment, before just letting out a long sigh, "Well... I figured that Jasmin would join," Kim pointed out, scratching his neck as he started to think a bit more.


    Of course, Ryan was pretty confused. Out of everyone, he hadn''t expected Jasmin to be the first to agree. This was quite literally the first time he had heard her voice as well. But he wasn''t going to say ''no'' to someone joining him, especially since it seemed like it was making the others consider it a bit more.


    "You know what? Just talk about it amongst yourselves for a bit. I''ve got to feed the forge real quick," Ryan pointed out. Pushing strongly to try and get them to his side might just bite him in the ass, so letting loose a little didn''t seem like the worst choice.


    "Wait, you learned blacksmithing?" Mark asked, raising his brow, "Is that how you ''make'' the spirits?"


    "Huh? Oh, nah, I put them together like model figurines. But there was a Spirit Keeper in the past that worked as a blacksmith who did it like that," Ryan pointed out, though it was clear that the others didn''t quite understand, "I mean I''m literally going to feed the forge."


    With a smile, Ryan walked over into the small building and brought out a couple bars of steel, holding it toward the old forge. Slowly, like a dog that was waking up from a nap, the elemental''s draconic shape formed itself. The five guests were quite taken aback as they saw this unfold, but Ryan just continued on and started feeding her with a smile.


    And, though they were shooting glances over at Ryan as he started scrubbing the soot away from the elemental''s bricks with a wire brush, it seemed like the five were starting to talk to each other a bit. Taking this opportunity, Ryan figured he should finally consult with the spirits a bit.


    ''What do you guys think?'' he thought to himself, letting his thoughts echo out to all of the spirits. The four of them interrupted what they were doing, looking into the empty space that was basically the ''roof'' of their respective domains. To Ryan, it felt like they were staring right at his face. Jester was the first to actually ''respond'', nodding his head and throwing forward a ''thumbs-up'' sign. Meanwhile, Gregor vehemently shook his head, clearly trying to deny the idea that Ryan had been presenting to the four of them. Gaia and Maximus seemed to have more complicated thoughts about the whole situation, hesitating to say anything at all.


    Of course, Ryan had discussed it with them before; he hadn''t just blindsided him. And though they all seemed to agree that the way things were going weren''t how they should be, they each had different perspective on the matter.


    Gregor was the sort that liked to follow rules and patterns. After some direct discussions with him, Ryan figured out that Gregor would prefer to change the way things were going from inside of the system. Basically, he should try to grow in influence and convince the people in power to change the way they were doing things. Jester was basically the exact opposite. He basically just wanted to do whatever sounded the most ''fun'' and ''exciting'', and causing some chaos would probably raise Ryan''s heart rate a little, so he was all for toppling the system as a whole.


    As for Gaia and Maximus, while they both did want to help things, and didn''t even feel too bad about the final plan that Ryan presented, they each felt hesitant. Gaia was scared, because she was worried that this might be the wrong choice. After all, this was a system that was established over the course of a thousand years. What if the elders were right, and this was the way that things should be done?


    Meanwhile, Maximus was feeling more worried about how he was betraying the trust that was placed onto him by the family. Despite not remembering his history with him, he accompanied Ryan''s father Hayden for a long time. He must have had some rapport with individuals in the family, so simply breaking away from that past path, even if he didn''t remember ever stepping onto it, felt deeply troublesome.


    In the end, this all just brought Ryan to a point where he had to sit in the middle between causing chaos and following the order of things. He wasn''t going to just reveal the truth on some livestream, but he wouldn''t just head toward the future laid out for him by the family either. Actually, those five guys who were discussing whether to join Ryan also helped him figure out a proper plan.


    ''I know you guys are worried, but we can''t just do nothing,'' Ryan said, trying to reassure everyone, ''And no, Jester, I''m not going to totally fuck things over either. We need to be smart about this. And right now, the smartest thing is to force Runar into protecting me.''


    Confused, the spirits looked at Ryan, waiting for a further explanation. With a grin, Ryan threw a piece of steel into the air, watching as the forge elemental snapped at it and caught it mid-air, ''Right now, he''s basically trying to do whatever he can to get on my good side again, so I could ask him whatever I want, and he would do it. But, of course there''s a limit. I can''t just go completely wild, or else he''ll drop it, but if I act like I''m playing along, and then slowly but surely push past what he would usually allow... well, we''re going to get somewhere pretty fast.''


    Now, all four of the spirits hesitated. With what Ryan was suggesting now, none of them were really getting what they wanted. This was a deeply manipulative tactic that was too orderly for Jester, and too chaotic for Gregor. Ryan was sure that this method was the best way they could get anywhere with this. He had to force his way into a position of power in the family by abusing his relationship with Runar and his status as the Spirit Keeper. And then, once he was in that position, he would change things from the inside. But not in a ''let''s change the rules'' kind of way. Rather, in a ''let''s break all the rules'' kind of way.


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    After a while, the group of five came up to Ryan. He turned around toward them, waiting for their response. Considering Jasmin''s smile and the slightly nervous expression from the others, Ryan already knew what he was about to be told, though, and they didn''t even need to say anything.


    "Happy to be working with you guys from now on."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Ryan stepped into the flat, quickly making his way into the living room. His mother was sitting at the table, as if she had been waiting there the whole time. But the fact she was even here had him taken aback.


    "Oh? I thought you were already on your way back..." Ryan pointed out, "We already said goodbye this morning and everything. We dropped you off at the train station..."


    Mary nodded her head, standing up from her seat, "I know... I took a taxi back here. I... think we need to talk. We haven''t really done that yet."


    "... I mean, we kind of have, right? What else is there to talk about?" Ryan responded, putting his helmet down onto the table. His mother stared at the helmet, nervously.


    "Well... you told me a lot of things, and I was filled in on some matters that I missed, but honey... We haven''t really spoken about what''s going on here. About the danger you''re putting yourself in."


    "Is this about the bike? I know you''re not super happy about it, you never loved that I drove one, but it''s literally safer than it''s ever been for me. The amount of Awakened that get into traffic accidents is abysmally-"


    Mary interrupted him, placing her hand onto his arm, "That''s not what I''m talking about, you know that."


    Not sure what else to say, Ryan pulled out a chair. He held out his hand, asking the spirits to step out of their domains, "You guys, please do your own thing for a while and let us talk alone."


    Of course, Ryan didn''t mind if the spirits overheard. They''ve seen... way too much at this point anyway. But this was a conversation that he was sure his mother would prefer to have just one on one, without anyone listening in. As the spirits left the room, Mary visibly relaxed a bit, pulling up a chair to sit down right in front of Ryan.


    "Why are you doing all this? Why are you putting yourself in danger?"


    "Well... it''s my job, it''s what I have to do. Without me, the spirits would be left on their own. I need to make sure that they-"


    "No, that''s not true," Mary immediately shook her head, "Runar told me that there are tons of people that could be looking for the spirits instead of you. You could just... sit back, relax, and have them bring the cores to you."


    That was the truth. It was what Runar had offered to Ryan initially as well, where he could just passively do his job as a ''Spirit Keeper'' and nothing else. Rather, not just Runar, but all the elders would probably prefer if Ryan just acted as an ''invisible'' member of the family, doing nothing but serving the spirits. But that wasn''t what he wanted. Not to mention, "... Maximus, Gregor, and Jester all have combat-focused abilities. If I don''t put myself a little bit into danger, they''re going to be stuck at their current levels. That wouldn''t be fair to them either."


    "Oh, don''t act like they''re the reason why you''re doing what you''re doing, Ryan. I raised you, you''ve always been a fighter yourself. You''ve always loved dungeons and the idea of being the valiant protector. You even had your own ''wannabe hero'' phase," Mary said bluntly, completely silencing Ryan. He opened his mouth, trying to say something against this, but... he couldn''t.


    It was the truth, Ryan wasn''t just doing this for the spirits, though it had been a pretty great excuse. He himself wasn''t quite capable of fighting all that well as of yet, and that was because he didn''t have a direct combat class. Sure, there were times where Ryan played with the idea of having some more unique classes, ones that weren''t just about beating up villains or monsters, but when he thought about things realistically, considering who he was as a person... a combat class just seemed like the only possibility for him. That was, if he even did awaken, which was basically as unlikely as being struck by lightning on a sunny day.


    "Then... you know that I can''t just sit back and do basically nothing. I can actually do things, change things. I can help people, seriously, really help them, mom..."


    "I know, but... why do you have to get shot to help people?" trying to hold back her tears, Mary placed her hand onto her eyes, "I can''t just watch you get hurt while cleaning up after the mess that your father left behind. I''ve already failed to protect you basically your whole life, and I-"


    "Wait, what?" Ryan interrupted his mother, "What are you talking about? You''ve always protected me."


    Mary glanced at Ryan''s arm, staring at the old scars that just didn''t seem to want to fade no matter how much time passed, "I haven''t... And I know it''s late, but I can''t just give up on trying."


    With a scoff, an involuntary one that was grown from sheer disbelief, Ryan shook his head, "No, mom, seriously, you have. After dad died, you did literally everything you could to make sure I didn''t miss out on anything, all on your own. Yeah, sure, Nolan was... a bump, but I wasn''t the only one that he hurt. I know that he put you through just as much stuff as he did me, or probably more. And you only married him so that I could live the best life that I could, and nobody could have known that he would turn out to be such a piece of shit."


    Mary shook her head, "And still, I failed to protect you from him. What kind of mother am I, letting something like that happen?"


    "And you did literally everything you could to make up for it, if not too much. Like, I was running with a really bad crowd for a few years, and without you, I never would have gotten out of there. Without you, I would probably be in jail or dead or would have turned out to be the worst kind of scum imaginable."


    "... No, stop, Ryan..." Mary let out a long sigh, "I don''t want to turn this into you comforting me, that''s the literal opposite of what I want. My mistakes are my mistakes, and I will never forgive myself for what you''ve been put through. Which is why, again... please, just... stop putting yourself into all of this danger."


    Slowly, Ryan reached out to his mother''s hand, squeezing it. He smiled softly, "I can''t. I have to do these things. Mom, I was invited by Goria. I''m apparently breaking fate by just existing. I''m involved in this, whether I want to be or not, and..." he squeezed his mother''s hand a bit tighter, to make sure she was looking into his face, "And I want to be involved in it. This is everything I''ve ever wanted, and I didn''t know about any of this. This is an opportunity to really, actually help people. To feel like I actually matter in this world, and that I''m not just a broken little boy anymore."


    Now, Mary started to fully cry, unable to hold back the dam anymore. Ryan quickly reached out to the napkins on the table, and his mother quickly wiped away her tears, "Just... please, be careful. I can''t bear to watch you get even more scars."


    "... I promise. I''ll be careful. I''m actually planning on trying to awaken my resistance stat soon. And you know... It''s the safest stat there is, right?" Ryan pointed out. At least in regard to its effect, that was. The way you raised it up actually did require some danger and damage, but that was beside the point.


    Mary reached out her hand, placing it onto her son''s cheek. She looked at him for a few moments, smiling lightly as the tears settled on her face, "Despite everything I just said... No matter how scared I am, no matter how painful it is to see you get hurt... Ryan, I am so unimaginably proud of the man you have grown up to be."

 133 - Night Run

    With his mom back for the night, because she didn''t want to just leave without having a proper, long talk with Ryan about everything, Ryan was laying on the couch again. He looked up at the ceiling. The wooden boards up there were old, most certainly older than Ryan. They might be even older than his mom.


    There was so much history in this place. So much has happened here. But Ryan just can''t help himself but wonder... why is Runar here? Why is he running a caf¨¦, though it''s only open half the time it should be, and why is he actively involved in a haven? From the others'' reactions, it didn''t seem like people really knew about this, nor was it expected or particularly normal for Runar to be directly involved like this.


    Was there something special about this haven? Was there a reason for him to be here? Frankly, Runar wasn''t really doing a lot of the work that he would expect the family''s patriarch to need to do. But maybe some of the other sections of the family were in charge of the things that Runar didn''t want to do.


    "Ahh..." Ryan placed his hand in front of his eyes, trying to shut out as much of what was going on around him as he could. He had been laying on this couch for about an hour, and didn''t feel even a slight pull into sleep. He was exhausted, but apparently that wasn''t enough to send him to bed quite so easily. Whether it was all the new developments of the day, or the conversation he just had with his mother, but it didn''t seem like Ryan would be able to fall asleep anytime soon.


    With a groan, he got up from the couch and grabbed his shorts and his t-shirt, quickly getting dressed again. Rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes, which was very annoying to do since he would rather just not be tired if he wasn''t able to go to sleep, Ryan got up. There was a 24/7 convenience store down the road, so maybe he could just jog down there, get something to eat, and use up some energy in the process.


    He pushed his feet into his sneakers, pulled his headphones over his head, and started playing some music. Already jogging down the stairs, Ryan just got started. Instead of heading straight down the road to the convenience store, he decided to take a bit of a detour. With his awakened stamina, it was a lot harder for him to actually ''use up'' his energy and exhaust himself. At this point, to tire himself out, Ryan had to almost sprint for a good while to make a real dent.


    Though, as he was running, Ryan noticed Jester trying to get his attention.


    ''What''s up?'' he thought, speaking directly to the spirit. He jumped up from his seat and started jogging in place. Though, the way he was moving was a little... well, weird was a good way to say it. It was like he was long-jumping with every step, ''... You don''t want me to run like that, do you?''


    Immediately, Jester pressed his legs together and nodded hurriedly. With a sigh, Ryan shook his head, ''Sorry, I don''t think that''s going to happen. I don''t even know how I would run like that.''


    Jester held his hand in front of his chin for a moment, trying to think. A few moments later, he held up his finger, as if he got an idea. He turned around and walked toward one of his pillows. After fiddling with it a little, Jester soon pulled out a long thread out of the pillow. Jester held one hand against his chest, and threw the other into the air.


    ''Hm... That could work, I guess?'' he replied. Though Ryan had directly ''remote controlled'' the spirits'' movements through the Spirit Link skill, the other way seemed a bit more concerning. The idea of letting go of his own physical control felt a bit weird, but if the spirits could do it so easily, then why couldn''t Ryan?


    He quickly activated the Spirit Link skill, and immediately felt a deep connection to the harlequin. More specifically, he was seeing what Jester''s domain was like from the spirit''s perspective. Ryan had checked it out briefly, but seeing it through Jester''s eyes still just felt different.


    Stopping for a moment, Ryan let out a deep breath. So, he just had to let go, then? Just stop controlling his body himself, as if his muscles were giving out. Ryan simply-


    As the thought crossed his mind, Ryan''s legs buckled for just a moment. He caught himself immediately, of course. Or, at least he tried. Ryan tripped slightly and fell forward, stomping onto the ground and holding out his arms for balance. Just the sensation of not having full control over his own body was nerve-racking and something pretty uncomfortable. It was worse than being drunk. There, he had at least some control, it was just... worse. And when drunk, Ryan didn''t really care that much.


    But this? It was way different. It was like someone was grabbing his limbs and forcefully pushing them into other positions. Either way, this was probably an important sensation for Ryan to learn, beyond just what Jester was trying to teach him. If he could learn this, maybe it would improve his understanding of the Spirit Link skill a bit.


    "Come on! Give it another shot!" Ryan said, pumping up his shoulders and slightly stretching his neck. Jester nodded excitedly a few times, and then started running in place again. Or rather... it seemed like he really was trying to run and push forward, but his body was constantly being pulled back into the centre of the room where he was standing right now.


    This time, instead of letting go control of his own body immediately, Ryan tried to imitate how Jester was moving as well as he could. Though, of course, he didn''t have the same level of bodily control of flexibility that Jester did, so it didn''t really quite work out. But it was a good start; step by step, Ryan was letting go of his control a bit more, and Jester was slowly taking over.


    Ryan''s speed picked up considerably, and he was soon able to feel his body move in a way he had never moved before. Of course, he looked absolutely ridiculous, and he would be embarrassed if anyone he knew ended up seeing him, but at the same time, moving like this was not only much more effective and fast, but was clearly draining his stamina quite a bit more. Maybe if he ran like this, he could increase his stamina and maybe even awaken his physicality a bit sooner.


    There were some extra-large treadmills in the gym at university that he should be able to use to run like this for a while, so he might as well give that a shot. But for now, he had to practice like this in the first place. Actually, if he was able to do this... wouldn''t it be a good way to learn other things that the spirits could do?


    Of course, that was only in regard to physical matters. For one, if he could fully let go of control, he might finally be able to do those extreme stretches that Jester wanted him to do to help him awaken and train his physicality, or it could be a good way to learn some of Maximus'' techniques. Ryan had good instincts for fighting, but he had never learned proper forms or techniques, which did lead to him injuring himself a lot. When he first started getting into proper fist-fights, the amount of times he broke or sprained some fingers while punching someone was embarrassingly high. Plus, the only thing he had experience really fighting with was something like a baseball bat. Things like knives that or similar weapons that could lead to serious, long-term damage or even death even if Ryan was careful with them was something he always stepped away from. If he hit someone''s leg with a bat, they could maybe break a bone. If he stabbed someone''s leg in that same spot... they might bleed out.


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    But it was different now. In a dungeon, blunt weapons were simply less effective a lot of the time when it came to finishing off a monster. Sure, there were times when blunt weapons were more useful, like in the dungeon where Ryan found Gaia''s core. Those stone monsters wouldn''t care about being stabbed. But the mascots in the amusement park dungeon? It was much easier to cut them and make them bleed out than it was to hit them and break their bodies. So, Ryan had to get used to different weapons a lot more if he wanted to take part in a serious fight in dungeons.


    Luckily, with the ''Horn of Shapeless Water'', he was able to test out a ton of different weapons that Maximus was proficient in, and could learn a style that fit him well.


    While Ryan was thinking about all this, he had still been running, and without even realizing, had let Jester completely take over. In that time, he ran far, far past the grocery store he wanted to get to.


    "I got... this far... in five minutes..?" Ryan was basically gasping for air as he stopped, looking down at his phone. He didn''t even know where he was right now. Some kind of weird alleyway. Oldtown wasn''t exactly the most lit-up place, so finding anything to orient himself wasn''t easy either. Because of how old so many buildings in this part of town were, tons of protections were placed on them to stop them from being altered too heavily. That should actually be the case for Caf¨¦ Runic''s building as well, but of course, with Runar''s contacts, power, and money, adding something like a rooftop garden was probably the easiest thing in the world.


    Either way, Ryan quickly checked his phone, trying to figure out where he was on his map. But he was completely shocked by what he saw, "Wait, what? I''m almost... 2 kilometres away? That was literally... just five minutes," he let out confused, still trying to catch his breath. That was a professional marathon runner''s pace, "Jester... what the hell? You got... any more tricks... like that?"


    The harlequin laughed slightly, doing an exaggerated laughing pose that Ryan involuntarily copied. He had gotten a bit too used to giving up control this quickly, but he was able to take over again pretty soon. However, next, Jester did a handstand and started to move around the room, climbing onto furniture, jumping around, before returning to the centre of the room. Ryan''s smile quickly dropped.


    "There''s no way you want me to do that," Ryan smiled wryly, but Jester, still on his hands, nodded excitedly. And though Ryan was hesitant, he knew that this was probably going to help him quite a bit, "... Alright. But Jester, if you make me run into any glass shards or you totally fuck up my hands otherwise, this is the last time I''m letting you take over like this."


    Jester jumped back up onto his legs with a quick nod and an accompanying salute, and then waited for Ryan to relinquish control again. Soon, he let his body go limp on his own, but Jester practically grabbed it and slipped right in. Immediately, Ryan could see the world twist upside down as he jumped onto his hands with a confidence he wouldn''t have been able to produce on his own.


    Ryan was panicking slightly and wanted to instinctively pull back to try and balance himself, but he knew that doing so would probably just mess things up even more. He had to just trust Jester. And it seemed like instead of trying to pull his body and legs back to balance himself, Jester was trying to just move underneath those legs as fast as he could to balance himself instead, minimizing how much he had to move the rest of Ryan''s body. And, to Ryan''s surprise, it really just... worked. He was moving ridiculously fast as well. Not quite at a regular running pace, obviously, but ridiculously fast considering he was running on his hands. The few people that he ran past were looking over at him with puzzled expressions, but Ryan could luckily try to concentrate on literally anything else, since he wasn''t even the one in charge of what he was doing right now.


    It was another 5 or so minutes later that Ryan could feel his arms really start to hurt. His strength was enough to carry his weight like this, but running normally was already a high-impact sport. This had to be so, so, so much worse. But at the same time, with Tiar, these sorts of injuries quickly recovered... so maybe it would be worth it to just continue and-


    Before Ryan could finish that thought, he could feel himself lose his balance. He fell down onto the ground, only barely able to stop himself from hitting his head on the cobblestone road.


    "Oh, fuck-" he let out, laying on the ground for a moment to catch his breath. Ryan had completely forgotten to keep track of the skill''s active time, "Urgh..."


    As he pushed himself off the ground, Ryan looked up, seeing a system window in front of him. The skill had been stagnant for a while, so this was great.


    <hr>


    [The -Spirit Link- Skill has levelled up]


    [Spirit Link]


    [Level - 10] [Proficiency - 0%]


    [Allows for the user to mentally link with the target Spirit, guiding their actions. During the activation period, the user has an extremely strong understanding of the target Spirit''s body and the effect of their skills]


    [Effect - Spirit Link for 15 Minutes per Spirit]


    [Cost - 15 MP] [Cooldown - 45 Minutes per Spirit]


    <hr>


    Per spirit? Per Spirit? Did this mean what Ryan thought it meant?


    He looked into his mind, trying to sense each of the spirits with the filter of the ''Spirit Link'' skill hovering in front of his eye. It was like Jester was ''greyed out'', and the other three were still available to him.


    This was amazing. This was perfect!


    Every ten levels, a skill would slightly ''evolve''. For the most part, this was very predictable, and would usually just result in a slightly larger boost in the effect compared to regular level-ups, but the way that you used a skill changed it as well.


    For example, if you used a strength-boosting skill exclusively for combat, it might end up providing slightly different bonus effects than when it was used exclusively for hauling things around. Maybe because Ryan had more spirits with him now, the skill evolved to account for each individual spirit. Of course, with his current mana, he could only activate the skill three times at best anyway, but if he was able to get Kim to start making some mana-recovery potions for him, that should work out pretty well. Either way, it meant that he had to properly increase his mana stat. Though, that was pretty damn hard to do.


    The ''mana'' stat really only defined the maximum amount of mana your body could hold, while the ''spirituality'' stat changed how well you were able to manipulate that mana. It was similar to how the ''Strength'' stat defined how much strength you could exert, while the ''Physicality'' stat changed how well you were able to move your body while exerting that strength.


    Frankly, the only way to ''train'' your mana stat was by loading up the magic you used. Basically, by putting more mana into them. It was like progressive overload in muscle training, just with magic. But all of the ''magic'' that Ryan could use was in the form of skills. If he wanted to do this, he had to learn how to cast some spells on his own.


    "Ah... fuck," Ryan groaned. He didn''t really know a ton of mages, and he didn''t want to bother Runar too much. For one, he didn''t want Runar to catch on to what Ryan was planning to do long-term, but he also just didn''t want to pull him away from blocking the White Shadow Society. There was only one person that he could think of that he had in his contacts that he could randomly call up for this sort of thing. Luckily, that person would probably know a thing or two about mana volume.

 134 - Introductory Spiritology

    "...and just like that, a spirit is first born. Though we don''t exactly know all the exact requirements, we at least understand the process," the professor stood at the front of the class, using a laser-pointer to highlight something on the image projected onto the large white screen covering a large section of the wall.


    Ryan continued finishing up his notes, though he basically just copied down everything that he was seeing. With his dexterity stat, he was able to write way, way faster than he used to. Whenever he was done with one of the pages, he would go back over it with some markers, highlighters, and so on to write himself some more detailed notes and conclusions that he himself had come to through his experience with spirits. It was his first Spiritology class, so it was all super introductory stuff that he already knew, for the most part.


    There were some details that came from the professor''s personal experience in the field of Spiritology that Ryan hadn''t heard before, but none of it was super useful to him right now. Ryan looked up from his notebook as the professor continued, "Now, what is actually quite interesting about spirits is what happens after they are first born. As their core manifests itself, it is still unable to thoroughly project its existence outward. You can see this as... the ''egg'' stage. Sooner or later, that egg will hatch. The resulting spirit will be juvenile for a while, but their personality and their body will be formed according to matters like the concept they were born from, the surrounding culture, or more direct interactions with others that have happened before that point. A forest spirit whose core was picked up by a raven may turn out to have a raven-like appearance and corresponding habits, for example."


    Carefully, Ryan raised his hand. This professor seemed to be quite happy whenever people asked questions, and Ryan had one that was quite pressing. As Ryan was called on, the professor smiled curiously, awaiting the question, "What about spirits who don''t have the ability to form their own bodies?"


    The professor''s smile quickly dropped, "Oh, well... those spirits are... quite a sad case, you could say. They are quite uncommon, of course, but it does happen every once in a while. It is generally assumed that their personas have not fully formed, or that they were lacking in one particular area during their formation. Maybe their specific concept didn''t quite fit what was needed to become a fully-fledged spirit, making them halt at the realm of the core," he explained, "Some summoners or spiritologists have been able to communicate with them to some limited degree, but it has never led to all too much."


    Ryan raised his brow, "I mean, they definitely have personalities and all, and their concept is pretty solid as far as I can tell."


    Confused, the professor looked at Ryan, who awkwardly realised that everyone in the room was staring at him now, "Could you elaborate?" the professor asked, and Ryan quickly nodded.


    "Uh, yeah, sorry. I should have clarified, but I''m an Awakened, a summoner type. And my class specifically allows me to build bodies for spirits that can''t do it on their own," he explained, and the professor laughed slightly, shaking his head.


    "Well, if there were a class like that, I surely would have heard of it."


    Now, it was Ryan''s turn to be confused. The other students apparently heard about him. Of course, he was already fairly infamous here, and then awakening with a unique class must have pulled a lot more attention toward him after that. It was just surprising that a professor, especially one teaching spiritology of all things, wasn''t informed about something like this. Then again, universities weren''t exactly known for being... efficient.


    "I, uh... I have a unique class? It''s called Spirit Keeper? I was told you''d have it in your notes, because I have a custom class load," Ryan explained. The professor stopped what he was doing and walked over to his notes, trying to look through them to confirm what he was being told. And then, suddenly, he froze up. The professor looked down at his watch, and then cleared his throat, slightly chirping as he spoke. He straightened the feathers on his head and spoke to the class.


    "Class is supposed to end soon anyway, so let''s just stop it here for now. Please check the syllabus for the reading materials I mentioned earlier. Make sure that you have finished them by the end of the month, preferably even earlier," the professor explained, "And could you please stay behind... Mister...?"


    "Aglecard," Ryan finished, letting out a slight sigh while getting his things together.


    This was annoying. Really, really annoying. He was surprised that this professor didn''t talk to him about anything during their first class yesterday, since all the other ones that he has had so far did come up to him and discuss his custom track, but he, of course, had no problem with it. Frankly, Ryan had no idea why he just said that. It was clear that the professor had no idea, and Ryan should have left it at that instead of opening his big stupid mouth in the middle of class in front of like fifty other people. Ever since his ''Sociability'' stat had gotten a bit higher, he became a bit of a blabbermouth.


    He ignored the stares of the other students as he made his way to the front of the class, where the professor was already eagerly waiting. Once the other students had left the room, the professor eagerly stared at Ryan, "You have a spirit-related class? And a unique one, at that?"


    The professor took a step forward, his talons pressed into the ground. Ryan''s face was almost tickled by the professor''s feathers, and tried to move away a bit. Avian species often had some issues with personal space.


    "Yep. Spirit Keeper. It''s a summoner class, and as I''ve said, it allows me to build the bodies of spirits who don''t have the ability to do it on their own," Ryan explained, and the professor looked at him eagerly, as if waiting for something. With a sigh, Ryan closed his eyes for a few moments and then held his hand forward. Though the professor couldn''t see this part, soon, a mass of red glowing wisps flowed out of his palm. They came together, slowly constructing Maximus'' body, "This is one of them. His name is Maximus, he''s a Knight Spirit."


    "Ooh, I see, I see! This is wonderful, it''s not often you get to see a spirit up close like this! And you say it''s a Knight Spirit?" the professor asked, clearly excited as he took a closer look at Maximus. But a few moments later, he pulled back and looked at Ryan, "Hold on, a ''Knight'' Spirit? Are you positive? That is the spirit''s concept?"


    Slowly, Ryan nodded. He knew that this would happen. He hadn''t found anything about ''Knight'' spirits anywhere else before either. Neither did he find out anything about ''Artillerist'', ''Harlequin'', or ''Garden Golem'' spirits. There was something about garden golems on the internet, but it was really just an article about this ancient golemancer who created golems to take care of every part of her life, including her garden. But beside that? Nothing.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "Mhm. At least that''s what the system said," Ryan explained, and the professor thought for a moment, once again looking more closely at Maximus.


    "I... see..."


    Ryan raised his brow. That wasn''t the reaction that he expected, "Is everything alright? I know I don''t really have a way to prove it, but-"


    "No, no, I believe you. I was just... You see, I wrote my doctorate on a specific theory of spirits'' origins. It is based around something generally referred to as the ''Power of Existence''."


    "Uh... power of existence?" Ryan repeated, not sure what the professor meant. Thinking about how to best explain it to a student taking an introductory class, the professor cupped his chin and slightly scratched his beak.


    "... Though this may be a little morbid, but do you know a saying about how a person dies twice?"


    "Uh..? Was it the thing about... the first death being your actual physical death, and the second death being when you''re forgotten?"


    "Exactly that," the professor nodded, a slight chirp in his voice, "Any person''s existence leaves behind some kind of proof. Whether it is in the form of memories, or some sort of physical imprint in the world itself. It is about the... impact that the person leaves behind in their lifetime. That same theory can be extrapolated toward really anything, including the concepts of spirits. So in the theory I just mentioned, this proof and impact of any specific thing creates this ''Power of Existence'', which interacts with the magical realms in a specific way to create the seed of a spirit''s birth."


    Ryan thought about what the professor was saying, trying to put it into his own words, "So, like... spirits exist because of the impact their concept made?"


    "That is my own personal theory at least. For example, spirits borne from specific locations. This always happens in places that are not only historically or culturally relevant, like a temple, or forest, or museum. Otherwise, almost every family will have a spirit living with them, right?"


    "Right."


    "And as I mentioned earlier, spirits tend to take on aspects of the culture or other traits of the place they were born into, because the air and magic permeates with that same ''Power of Existence'', through which the birth of a spirit is observed. Like a constant filter."


    "... Is it like... the memories of a place when dungeons are born? I was in a dungeon before, and it was this abandoned factory. The monsters in there somewhat took on the form of factory workers doing their daily work, even though the factory was abandoned for more than a decade before it turned into a dungeon."


    The professor thought about it for a moment, and then slowly nodded, "While I do now have much knowledge on dungeons, I think that may be an apt comparison. If we base this on my theory, I imagine that your friend Maximus here was born during some kind of war. A time where knights stood at the forefront of everyone''s mind. As such, a spirit was born," the professor started, but then slowed down, clearly thinking a bit more, "But... then what if the war ends? What if... somewhere between the point of the spirit core''s manifestation, and the initial projection of the physical form, that war ends? Knights leave the mind of the people? The power that their existence once held... quickly fades? Of course, this ''power of existence'' does not affect the strength or existence of a spirit once fully born. We can see this because a spirit whose home has been destroyed still continues to exist furthermore. However, in such early stages... that might be different."


    Ryan stared at the man in front of him. If that was the case... that would explain some things, right? For one, it would explain why Maximus was able to use so many different weapons and techniques. But... "Knights were a common occurrence until like a century ago. Even the knight class only really fell out of fashion and stopped appearing around fifty years ago, and it was a super gradual process. Would that really be enough to make that happen?"


    "... Concepts tend to be specific," the professor explained, "The system only really considers them ''Forest Spirits'' or ''Lake Spirits'', but they will be, more specifically, the ''Orcgrand Forest Spirit'', or the ''Rhinos Lake Spirit''. Maximus would likely be from a specific war, whose knights stuck in peoples'' minds particularly strongly."


    Though that seemed more possible, it still felt... wrong. Ryan had already checked literally every single online forum he could find about history and wars and knights, trying to find an army''s armour that looked like Maximus'', and he found nothing. And that wasn''t even mentioning all those other separate armours or ''Models'' that Ryan could swap Maximus'' parts out for. Plus, there was something about spirits being ''sealed'' that played into all of this.


    It felt possible, and close to the truth, but... just wrong. There were too many puzzle-pieces missing. Of course, Ryan wasn''t going to tell his professor that he thought he was wrong, considering that all the ''proof'' he had was heavily classified information. Luckily, something came to Ryan''s rescue.


    His phone buzzed a few times, and Ryan quickly checked, "Ah... professor, I''m so sorry, but I have an important appointment right after this... do you mind if we continue this conversation sometime else? I''ll talk to the spirits a little bit and then I can update you on this all sometime else, alright?"


    Though the professor wanted to ask plenty more questions, clearly, he couldn''t just force Ryan to stay behind either. As though he was fleeing, Ryan pulled Maximus back into his domain, apologised for having someone stare at him so intensely, and then rushed out of the lecture hall. He pulled up his phone again and texted back the person that messaged him.


    <blockquote>


    <u>Michael</u>


    I''m on my way to the caf¨¦, what should I do when I get there?


    <u>You</u>


    If I''m not there yet, just sit down inside. It should be open


    If it''s closed for some reason, there''s a bench right outside the door so just wait there


    I''m on my way as well


    <u>Michae</u>


    Alright! I''ll wait for you there, then!


    </blockquote>


    Ryan quickly started rushing toward the parking lot. He didn''t want to keep Michael waiting, especially after asking him to meet up. Luckily, it wasn''t too long a ride back home with his bike. During the ride itself, Ryan just weaved through some of the cars in traffic, cut through the middle, and basically did whatever he could to get home as fast as he could. He pulled into the alley next to the building and parked his bike, quickly stepping off.


    Right then, he turned his head, and saw Michael walking on the sidewalk with his phone in hand, clearly looking for the caf¨¦. Ryan quickly walked up to him, "Yo!"


    Michael was startled, snapping his head toward Ryan before letting out a clear sigh of relief, "Oh gods, it''s just you... so this is the right place?"


    "Yup, it''s right here. Come on," Ryan smiled, patting the young man on the back. He led him to the front of the store and quickly went inside. An exhausted Runar was standing behind the counter and waved at Ryan. He was even more exhausted than usual, but it had been a while since he opened the store. At the moment, it was closed more often than it was open, and it was hurting business quite a lot, for obvious reasons.


    Runar could afford it, of course, but it was still annoying to lose regulars.


    "Want something to drink?"


    "Uh..." Michael nervously looked at the menu, "I don''t really... drink coffee."


    "That''s fine. We have hot chocolate, tea, juice, whatever you want, really," Ryan pointed out. It was clear that Michael was nervous, so he was trying to get him to loosen up a little.


    Michael thought about it, and then nodded, "Some tea, then... Duke Red, if you have it?"


    "Of course. Go ahead and sit down wherever you want, I''ll let my uncle know."


    As Ryan walked up to the counter, Michael awkwardly looked around, soon picking a seat in the corner of the space. Ryan put down the order for the tea and his own coffee, and then quickly made his way back to his guest.


    "So..." Michael started, "What did you call me here for?"


    "Right, sorry, I guess it was a bit confusing when I randomly texted you," Ryan tried to laugh it off apologetically, "Really, I just wanted to ask you for some tips on increasing my mana volume."


    Immediately, Michael relaxed, even starting to smile, "Oh, that''s all?"


    "Yeah... what did you think I was going to ask you?"

 135 - Vessel Expansion

    "So... you work here?"


    Ryan nodded, "Yeah, my uncle owns the place and I work here part-time. It''s sort of my go-to place to invite people if I need to talk about something," he explained, though he obviously didn''t ignore the fact that Michael had just completely ignored the question he was just asked, "Seriously, what did you think I called you here for? You''re a bit young for me to ask you out on a date, if that''s what you were nervous about."


    "No, no, it''s not that... I just..." Michael shook his head, "I heard that you''re kind of... you know... aggressive sometimes... my brother told me to be careful around you and that you would bully me if I wasn''t..."


    "Hah?" Ryan hesitated for a moment, not sure how to react, "I''ve never bullied anyone in my fucking life, so tell your brother that. Plus, how does he even know me?"


    "Oh, uh... he goes to NRU, and..."


    "That explains it," Ryan rolled his eyes. Michael must have told his brother about Ryan, who then found out the rumours that were moving around university. Some of them had apparently gotten quite... exaggerated. And one made its way to Michael, "If you''re not comfortable with this, then I can have someone drive you back home in a bit, but I would really appreciate your help."


    "No, no! It''s not like I really believed it! You''re really nice, so I know you would never be a bully!"


    Ryan looked back at Michael. It seemed like he was misunderstanding some things. Though Ryan wasn''t a bully, he still had pretty violent tendencies, though he was able to push them down through the pressure of his status as an ''Awakened''. Not to mention, literally the first time him and Michael met, Ryan was so close to punching him in the face.


    But well... there was no need to clarify things right now, "Anyway, as I just said, I''d love some tips on increasing my mana volume."


    "Uhm..." Michael thought about it for a moment, but then slowly shook his head, "Really, I don''t know, I was just born with an extremely high amount of mana. I do everything I can to suppress the growth of my mana, actually..."


    "I know, I know, don''t worry. But if you want to suppress your mana, you have to know a good bit about how it works, and what makes it grow, right?"


    "Oh... I mean, I guess so, yeah," thinking for a moment, Michael tried to think about what he could say to help Ryan out, "Well, what I do is to just engage with as little of my mana as possible. Like, for my ''Spirituality'' training, I just use spells with low mana costs or spells that only need an initial trigger for mana and then need to be continuously held onto with your control."


    Ryan thought for a moment, "Hm... so is that really the only way to increase mana? To just use as much of it as you can?"


    "Well, there''s other ways, I guess? Uhm..." Michael was thinking intensely, fiddling with his fingernails as he was trying to come up with something that could help Ryan out, "I was specifically told to push out as much mana as I can at any time."


    "Hm? Why so?"


    "So... Mana wants to stay inside of your body, right? Like it sticks to you. But since we''re constantly producing mana, some of it is passively pushed out."


    Ryan nodded. He knew about it; that was exactly what Penny used to figure out what Ryan was talking about when they were chatting, and what he pulled back when trying not to let her hear what he was saying. Michael continued.


    "Basically... uhm, if I''m understanding it right, what you''re doing by overloading your spells is telling your body that you aren''t producing enough for what you need, so your body will start to produce more. So what I''m doing is the opposite. By forcefully pushing my mana out, I''m trying to trick my body into thinking that it''s producing too much mana, way more than my body can hold, so that it could slow down... basically atrophy. Keeping a large part of my mana vessel empty all of the time should help with that as well."


    Curiously, Ryan raised a brow, "So... do you think I could expand my mana by just forcefully keeping it all inside of my body?"


    "Maybe, but I don''t really know if that would work... But it could, right? It''s like... blowing up a balloon. The balloon being your mana vessel," Michael suggested, and Ryan grinned lightly.


    "That so?" he looked at the young man sitting across from him, just as Runar came to bring the two their drinks. He looked at his uncle, "You heard all that, right?"


    "Huh?" Runar let out, looking down at his nephew. Ryan knew that Runar had to have an incredibly high ''perception'' stat by now, so he couldn''t lie about it anymore, "Yeah, I guess so. Why?"


    "My mana is colourless, right? So it doesn''t fight back against other mana inside of me too much, right?"


    Runar raised a brow, "What are you talking about, that''s not-" he started, but quickly stopped himself, "... actually, it might be why the massive amount of dungeon mana wasn''t hurting you at all. Usually, your mana should have reacted to the foreign substance and tried to fight it off, but with your mana being how it is... So what''s your point?"


    "Do you think I could take in other people''s mana?"


    With a scoff, Runar was about to just laugh the idea off, but then he looked over at Michael. He was producing more mana than everyone here in the room combined, with the exception of Runar himself, of course. Plus, it was mana drenched in ''water'', which Ryan was pretty compatible with right now anyway after meeting Goria recently, so... "Give it a shot, I guess? You''ll probably be able to tell when it feels off, anyway."


    "Fuck yeah," Ryan grinned, looking at Michael who was starting to sip on his tea nervously, "Michael. Do you want to give me some of your mana?"


    "H-Huh?"


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "And you''re sure this is a good idea?" Michael looked at the exposed back of Ryan, who was sitting cross-legged on the rooftop.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "Nope, but let''s try it anyway," Ryan said with an excited grin on his face, "Worst-case, it''s just going to be a bit uncomfortable for me. But best-case, I can forcefully keep more mana inside of my vessel than it''s supposed to be able to hold."


    "Ryan, I don''t know about this... What if I fail to control my magic and something happens to you?"


    "Well, what could happen?"


    Michael seemed like he was a bit nervous to talk about it, but in the end just let out a slight sigh, "So... one time, during practice, I tried really strongly to push out a lot of mana into one of the batteries that I''m supposed to but all of it in, and then I got distracted, and all of a sudden my mana just turned into water and kept clinging to the battery. Because there was already some of my mana inside of it, it basically tried draining all the mana from it to stay as water, and..."


    Ryan raised a brow, "You''re worried that could happen with me? That I might drown or something?"


    "A little?"


    "Nah, don''t worry about that," Ryan pointed at his earrings, "These are magic items that let me breathe underwater. You''ve got nothing to worry about, even if this does happen."


    "Wait, seriously?" Michael leaned forward and took a closer look at Ryan''s black pearl earrings, "Where did you get ones like that? I haven''t heard about a magic item like that before..."


    Ryan smirked, "Got them from a friend. Who knows, maybe I''ll introduce you at some point? It feels like you two would get along pretty well."


    And that wasn''t even really a joke. Michael was brimming with more mana than he knew how to handle, and it was, quite literally, drenched in water energy. Once he managed to increase his Spirituality to a point where he could actually start making use of it, he could become one of the most powerful water mages in this generation. Making a connection with the Great Spirit of Water wasn''t all that far-fetched. Especially considering that she was literally just a mile or two underground from here.


    "And you''re sure this is fine? And that the earrings really work?"


    "Yes, dude, come on," Ryan laughed, trying to give Michael a bit more confidence in all of this, "I was laying face-down in the bathtub for an hour last night, it''s all good."


    "Hmm... okay," Michael took a deep breath. He grabbed something from his backpack. It was some kind of amulet with a large blue stone. But the chain that was holding that stone was far too long, and Michael carefully wrapped one end around his right arm, carefully closing the clasp right behind his neck. The stone was now closely pressed onto his palm.


    Ryan looked at it curiously, "What''s that?"


    A bit startled, since he had already been concentrating, Michael looked at his hand, "Oh, sorry... this is a spellcasting conduit... it''s pretty old and cheap, though. I can''t really afford those high-quality wands or staffs, so I have to make use with this."


    "You need a conduit for this kind of thing?"


    "Other people don''t, but I do... even just pushing mana out of my body feels impossible. It''s like trying to dig through stone or something. With this, it feels a little more like... clay, I guess?"


    Ryan nodded his head, "Right, of course. You don''t need to rush, by the way. Just take it slow and we''ll see if it''s going to work pretty soon anyway."


    "... And your back doesn''t..?"


    "Nah, it''s fine. The scars are all healed by now," Ryan reassured Michael, who slowly nodded as the cold amulet was pressed against Ryan''s back.


    It took just a few moments for him to feel something else happen as well. It felt like someone was pouring water onto his back, but the water was pushing straight through his skin. Not in a painful way either; it was just that cold sensation spreading through him that quickly gave him goosebumps all over. The water-like mana flowed into Ryan''s body and quickly encountered Ryan''s own mana.


    And instead of forcing out this foreign matter, his mana simply accepted that it was there, like it didn''t mind whatsoever. It didn''t quite take on the qualities of Michael''s mana, nor did it mix together. It was still two very separate substances that seemed to refuse mixing, but Ryan''s body had no issues holding Michael''s mana whatsoever.


    Maybe this was because of Ryan''s unique way of interacting with spirits? Usually, a summoner would, well, ''summon'' their contracted spirit from wherever they usually lived. That was why summoners were usually quite close in principle to spatial-mages, which were an extremely rare class in the first place. But Ryan didn''t do that; the spirits were always with him. He was basically their home. So maybe that was why his constitution changed in a way that allowed foreign mana within him, and his colourless, ''inoffensive'' mana allowed for the presence of that foreign mana as well. Things were basically working together perfectly to allow this.


    Though, while Ryan could feel his vessel being filled up with mana, his own was being forced outside of his body. Trying to respond immediately, Ryan pulled it back inside of him, so that he could keep as much mana as possible actually inside of his vessel. Michael backed off for a moment after injecting about two MP worth of mana into Ryan''s body, give or take, and allowed Ryan to try and keep it within him for now.


    Before the mana escaped naturally, Ryan enveloped it with his own, like some kind of shell. Obviously, he wasn''t able to just control Michael''s, so he had to force it to behave how he wanted to in some other way. Soon enough, Ryan had pulled all of his mana back into his body, and was holding Michael''s as well. It felt like his skin was being pulled taut, as if he were about to burst. Just a single small cut could make him go ''kablooey''.


    Though it may be obvious, while Michael''s mana wasn''t being forcefully pushed out, holding it inside of Ryan wasn''t comfortable by any means either. It felt like he had a massive lump of ice stuck in the middle of his body. Luckily, Ryan had learned some breathing-techniques in anger management classes that he was forced to take in high school that helped him focus his mind a bit more, so that he could push through the sensation pretty easily.


    <hr>


    [Foreign mana has been detected inside of your body! Please expel, convert, absorb, or otherwise remove it from your body]


    <hr>


    The message came as a slight surprise that almost forced Ryan. Of course, usually, nobody would be stupid enough to try this. Or rather, other people might not even be able to try it. Usually, their bodies and mana would force out foreign mana in the first place, and the ones that were skilled enough to stop that from happening wouldn''t do something like this in the first place, because they simply had no need to at that point. So maybe that was why this situation was so aberrant even to the system that it felt like it had to warn Ryan.


    But those three words... those gave some clues to him as well. ''Expel'' was obvious; he could just force it back out of his body. But ''convert'' or ''absorb''... Convert could mean that he was supposed to turn it into his own mana, while absorb might mean that he could save it for later? Like, place it somewhere where he could access it at some other point in time? Why not try both?


    First, Ryan tried to somehow latch onto Michael''s mana. Basically, he was trying to treat it like a spirit. And then, he slowly but surely pulled it into his mind. More specifically, into the ''space between the domains'' that Ryan entered whenever he stepped into his own mind as well. The mana was disappearing from his physical body, and was instead stored in some ''other'' place. Meanwhile, inside of that place itself, something else was being formed. Right above the centre of Ryan''s mind a small ball was being formed. It was like water was coming together into a ball. It wasn''t a lot, really, just the size of a fist, but it was still something special. It was Michael''s mana, after all.


    The warning message from the system disappeared from Ryan''s view. He couldn''t control this mana otherwise, though. But, he could take it out again, and then force it back into the middle of his vessel to continue trying to expand his vessel. That was the ''absorb'' part... but what about the ''convert''? That still didn''t work... or at least, Ryan didn''t know how to do it. But it was clearly possible, otherwise, the system wouldn''t have mentioned it.


    Or maybe it was theoretically possible, but just not for Ryan? Either way, that wasn''t the important part. What was important was that he could store mana like this. Once he got a bit more mana from Michael, he would be able to repeatedly do this on his own a bit more long-term to try and slowly but surely expand his mana vessel. And if this worked... then it definitely was a great way to grow stronger.

 136 - Hurdles

    Michael continued pushing more and more mana into Ryan''s body, who quickly placed it into the space between the domains. Though, there was a limit; at some point, it just wouldn''t accept any more mana. From what Ryan could tell, it was about a similar amount to his own personal mana limit.


    "Are you okay? That was a lot of mana..." Michael took a step back, carefully pulling his spellcasting conduit off his arm. The chain had left a bit of an imprint in his skin, as if he had tied it on extremely tightly.


    "Yeah, it''s fine. I was able to use one of my skills to store it away for now. I should be able to syphon a bit of it into me to do this on my own time," Ryan explained as he stood up and put his shirt back on. Though, he noticed that Michael was looking at him a little awkwardly, "Everything alright?"


    "H-huh? Yeah, I''m fine! Just... what now?"


    "Well," Ryan thought about it for a moment. He was thankful for the help, so he really wanted to do something in return. Especially because he had already promised to help Michael out a bit, though because of the business of last week, that hadn''t happened yet. But there was something that he felt like could be useful for Michael, "If you want to leave, you can, obviously, but I do have a better idea. If you want, I''d like to help you with your Spirituality practice."


    Startled and surprised, Michael''s eyes widened, "Wait, what? Are you sure?"


    "Yeah, of course! If this really works, you''ve helped me out a ton, so I want to return the favour," Ryan quickly walked over to his bag, grabbing the ''Horn of Shapeless Water'' from it. The way that it worked was pretty straightforward. You poured your mana inside, and then tried to form the shape of a weapon or tool with it. Your mental made things way, way easier, but in the end, it was still the user actually changing it. It wouldn''t be good practice for Ryan, probably, but it might work pretty well for someone like Michael, whose Spirituality stat was absolutely abysmal.


    "What''s that?"


    "Just watch," with a smile, Ryan quickly tried to use the horn to form a few different shapes. First a shovel, then a baseball bat, then a sword, a spear, and even a bow, in quick succession, "It''s a magic item. Super simple, really. Just pour in your mana, try to shape it somewhat right into the item you want it to be, and then the horn will do the rest. Just... see it as a safe way to practice mana-manipulation. I can''t, like, give it to you, but as long as you''re here with me, you can practice as much as you want."


    Curiously, Michael reached out his hand toward the horn that Ryan was holding out to him, "Wow, where did you get all these magic items from?"


    "A friend. Anyway, go on, give it a shot. I don''t think you really can mess it up all too much," Ryan pointed out, curiously looking at the young mage in front of him. Michael was clearly worried about messing this up, but because of the active encouragement he was given, he decided to go ahead and at least give it a shot. Ryan wasn''t wrong about anything until now, at least.


    He held the horn tightly, and Ryan stood a safe distance away. Not because he didn''t believe what he said himself, of course, but because he didn''t know what Michael might try making. He didn''t want to get accidentally stabbed or pummelled by his own magic item. From where he was standing, he could see the water inside of the horn start to bubble up, like when mana was first poured into it.


    The bubbles started growing larger and climbing on top of each other, bulging out of the horn. They grew into a pillar of water; a straight, round bar that soon froze over. Michael seemed immediately excited, but Ryan was a little confused. An object like this should be pretty straightforward, but what Michael made was bumpy and crooked, and even had some dangerously jagged lines and even some spikes on its side. Maybe your magic control did influence the quality of the final item to some degree.


    Ryan looked at it a bit more closely, and then glanced back at Michael, "First of all, good job. But look at this, is this what you were trying to make?"


    "Uh..." Michael glanced at it, and then slowly shook his head, "No... I just wanted to make a normal straight bar... did I do it wrong?"


    "Well, not ''wrong'', really. But it''s obviously not what you had in mind, right? How about you try getting rid of all these bumps and smoothing it out?"


    The young hydromancer nodded, taking a deep breath. The ice on the bar melted, slowly but surely smoothing out while flowing back over the surface of the bar. But then, once Michael relaxed and the water froze again, the bumps just returned, maybe even worse than before. Ryan raised a brow and looked at Michael. He had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but he wanted to make sure.


    "Are you just ''letting go'' once you shape the water?"


    "Huh? Should I not?"


    "No, of course not. You can''t ever let go of your mana until it''s set in place," Ryan pointed out. That was the bare minimum of mana manipulation that even Ryan knew. Mana was so volatile that you couldn''t just leave it be. When it was within one''s body, there was a sort of basic biological rhythm that was keeping the flow regular and in tune with everything else in your body. But once outside of it, mana had to be constantly controlled, otherwise, it would dissipate almost immediately.


    Even when Ryan pulled the spirits into or out of their domains manually, he only ''let go'' of their mana once their bodies were fully formed. Though, in that case, it would probably just lead to the summoning being interrupted, since they were directly linked to Ryan already. But with something like the ''horn of shapeless water'', that lack of active control was clearly leading to issues.


    It was a bit weird that Michael didn''t know this, though. Apparently, together with the ability to actively manipulate mana, the ''Spirituality'' stat also increased one''s understanding of how to manipulate it. Like how you didn''t have to manually breathe or blink, but your body just did that on its own. But with how low Michael''s stat was, even such a basic fact wasn''t really that obvious.


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "... This is a bit of a bigger hurdle than I thought."


    <hr><hr><hr>


    "Twenty... three... twenty... four..." Modak groaned loudly, trying to keep his breathing as steady as he possibly could. He lowered his body, trying to hold the position for a few moments, before straightening his legs again, finishing this set of squats. Triumphantly, the orc grinned, feeling the tension in his thighs, "Oh, gods..."


    Yanna looked over at him with a laugh, laying on her bed, "What, that''s already breaking you?"


    With a slight grumble, Modak glanced at his girlfriend, "Stop making fun of me, it''s the first time I really try to work out consistently..."


    "Yeah, and you can tell," Yanna pulled her legs over the edge of the bed. She walked over toward Modak, placed her palm onto the ground, and went into a one-handed handstand with absolute ease.


    "Wow. You really have to brag like that, huh?" Modak smiled lightly, leaning forward. He squatted down and gave Yanna a kiss, and the minotaur grinned broadly in response.


    "Oh, let me be. I''ve got to catch up a little, don''t I? Mister youngest-ever-and-first-ever-non-mage-wizard-candidate," Yanna carefully let herself back down onto the ground, "I can help you train more, if you want. You don''t have to do it all on your own."


    Modak was still breathing somewhat heavily, shaking his head, "I don''t know if that''s a great idea. I''m not an Awakened. The ways that an Awakened and a non-Awakened train are completely different, right?"


    "I mean, sure, but that''s just in training volume, frequency, and how we do progressive overload and shit, but not the form or techniques. I can show you and teach you everything you need to know. Well... there''ll be some difference with leg exercises, obviously," Yanna explained, glancing down at her legs. A minotaur''s legs were, simply put, in a slightly different shape.


    Hominid species like humans, elves, and orcs were plantigrades, meaning that their feet were flat on the ground; the front most parts of their feet, their toes, as well as their heels were both on the ground when they stood. Meanwhile, bovid species like minotaurs were unguligrades, meaning they mostly walked on the front of their feet, the equivalent of their toes that usually presented in the form of hooves.


    Though it wasn''t the most massive difference in the world, it did change certain parts of how they had to train quite a bit. And considering that Modak''s ribs and arm were still not in a state to do anything else but leg-based workouts, that could cause a small issue. Though, in the first place, "It might be better to wait until you''ve healed a bit more. I mean, just wait a week or two and you''ll be good to go."


    "... Yanna. Without assistance of magic, it takes a broken arm around 7 or 8 weeks to heal, and a broken rib around 6 weeks for the average orc," Modak explained, and Yanna looked at him a bit taken aback.


    "Wait, seriously?"


    "Yes, seriously," a bit dejected, Modak sat down on the bed, "Obviously, with healing salves and potions or whatever, things like a broken rib in particular can be easily taken care of, but it doesn''t work on me... I even tried one of those pills that Ryan had someone make from those blood roses Gaia is growing, but it just ended up in me coughing out a ton of mana and almost hurting myself even more."


    Yanna sat down next to Modak, rubbing his back, "I''m sorry... I didn''t really think about that. But even so, it''s just 8 weeks at most, then, right? Can''t you wait until then? I know some physical therapy exercises that we could go through around that time to slowly help you into it. There''s no need to rush."


    She wasn''t wrong, obviously. Modak knew that he didn''t have to rush. He wasn''t a fighter, he didn''t need to be in the frontlines of anything. But the idea of just being protected, of just sitting back and playing around with plastic bricks just made Modak feel even weaker than he already did, surrounded by all these powerhouses.


    "Well... actually, I''m... trying to awaken my aura," he explained, and Yanna raised her brow.


    "You''re trying to awaken? You know you can''t force that kind of thing."


    "No, that''s not what I-" Modak tried to explain, but just let out a slight sigh as he tried to figure out how to best explain it, "So... it''s not really as common with Aura, but you know there are people that can use spells and stuff without being an Awakened, right? The same thing is technically possible with Aura. Aura boosts the user''s physical ability as well as well as their biological function as they grow more potent in using it."


    Yanna slowly nodded, understanding what Modak meant, "Right, I''m also training to manipulate my aura on my own outside of skills, but that''s already really hard for me. Do you think you can do that?"


    "Well, yeah, actually? So, apparently, because of my complete rejection of mana, my body is a lot more attuned to aura. I told you about that aura researcher at the magic tower, right?"


    "The one that helped you figure out something for your project? How to properly fine-tune the mana frequency?"


    "Exactly, that one. In exchange for his help, I let him research my aura compatibility. So I know that it''s a thing, I just need to... well, sense my aura and start training it a bit. And then, maybe I can get a bit stronger. Healthier."


    Yanna was silent for a while. She understood what Modak was saying, and what his plans were. But there was clearly something else on her mind that she was hesitant to say. So, the two just sat there for a few moments, until Yanna managed to get her question out, "But... why? Why do you need aura all of a sudden? Is something happening? Do you not feel safe anymore after what happened at the expo?"


    "No, that''s not-" Modak started, but he could feel his heart skip a beat just before he finished the sentence. Maybe that wasn''t totally wrong either. He did feel scared. Modak felt weak. Like he couldn''t do a real difference. Frankly... he didn''t even properly block anything there. He jumped into the way of one of the spirits, but was just swatted away. The only thing that Modak was good for was distracting the spirit long enough for some mages to step in and take the spirits down.


    And then, he was carried off by his girlfriend, the newest member of the awakened league and one of the strongest league prospects in their generation. In the hospital, he was visited by his best friends, one of which had just gotten back from meeting the Great Spirit of Water, while the other was continuing to talk about all the great new progress she was making in her already famous art.


    Of course, Modak wasn''t doing bad in comparison either, but his project felt like... a lucky break. Something that he just so happened to have figured out at the right time. He didn''t feel like he could really compare to the others. Modak just felt like, "I''m falling behind everyone. I just don''t want to watch all the shit that''s going on right now and just sit back and do nothing. I have to do something."


    Yanna held her boyfriend''s hand, squeezing it softly, "I... I can tell that there''s something going on that you can''t tell me, and I''m not going to ask what it is because I trust you, okay? And just saying, you''re doing great," she said, slowly standing up from the edge of the bed, "But if you say that you want to try awakening your aura, then I''ll help you. Modak, I have really strong aura as well, it''s kind of one of the things that made me stand out the most amongst other league candidates."


    The minotaur knelt in front of Modak, still holding his hand. He could feel her palm heating up quite a bit, unnaturally so, "And if you need help with something aura-related, obviously, I can help with that."

 137 - Back to the Park

    Silvia took her foot off the pedal, watching the sewing machine''s needle slow down. With an excited smile, she took the shirt she just finished off her table and held it out to take a closer look, "Perfect!"


    It was part of the latest outfit she was putting together for Ryan. He was heading back into the dungeon tomorrow. Though Silvia and Modak both wanted to join, they obviously couldn''t just yet. Modak''s arm and ribs were still broken, and neither of the two had a way to participate in combat or defend themselves.


    Ryan''s condition for taking the two of them was that they wouldn''t make a dungeon dive harder on him. That was why Silvia was currently learning how to handle a gun, while Modak was focusing on recovery and working on some new ways to employ his magic synthesis. But that wasn''t all. They still wanted to take their position as ''Aides'' seriously, and were doing whatever they could to help out.


    As such, Modak was using his time doing research in Ryan''s stead and giving him notes on all the things that he wanted to know, basically acting as the ''Man in the chair'', while Silvia was fully diving into making equipment for him and the spirits.


    Of course, Ryan himself didn''t need a weapon anymore because of the ''Horn of Shapeless Water'', but he definitely still needed things to defend himself, especially with how reckless Ryan tended to be. And that was part of what Silvia had just finished. The amusement park dungeon tended to be clad in thin mist and was generally quite cold, according to Ryan, so while it was the middle of summer, she had made a hoodie for him.


    There were high-strength zippers on each shoulder so that he could remove the sleeves as needed, in case he wanted to use Tiar''s ability to recreate a piece of Maximus'' armour. Of course, the fabric that the hoodie was made of was also something specifically developed for heroes, dungeoneers, soldiers, or even firefighters. It was extremely resistant to cuts and even fire. If it was hot enough for this fabric to burn, then you had way more stuff to worry about, basically. It was also incredibly breathable, so it wouldn''t actually work too well to warm someone up, which was a good compromise for summer. Plus, it was incredibly light, so that was a benefit, though Ryan told Silvia not to worry about that.


    Since he wasn''t the most active part of combat anyway, he didn''t need to worry about weight too much, so Silvia added another layer of a different material on the inside. The outer fabric was fairly thin, so Silvia could add this without issues. It was a flexible crystal mesh that acted as a support for any sort of magic flowing through it.


    Of course, this wasn''t anything directly beneficial for Ryan, since he wasn''t using any magic that could even interact with this mesh, but it should boost some of the effects that Silvia wanted to place onto this quite a bit. That was why the trousers that she made also had the same crystal mesh in them.


    But these two parts were only really the ''base'' of what Silvia was making right now. She had everything on a mannequin next to her. On top of these, she placed a number of belts so that Ryan could access all his items properly. On the main belt, there was of course the slot for the horn, and then Ryan would have a small bag on his left hip that he could hold different smaller items in, like those healing pills that he gave Silvia one of. The secondary belts had slots for different items for the spirits. Mostly, this was small items for Maximus that had been made by the metal workers.


    Silvia did try to take up metalwork as well, but it was a completely different medium compared to what she worked in so far, so she had to build up a bit of confidence before she could make anything that could be considered ''art'' by her skills. That was the main condition for her abilities to work, after all.


    So instead, she mostly did some detail-work. The metal-workers were told to just make the base item, and then Silvia came in and carved or painted some details onto the items so that her abilities could take hold. The same thing happened with the pieces of metal armour that were going to be part of Ryan''s outfit.


    He would have the metal vambrace, gauntlets, and greaves of a regular knight''s armour. Basically, they were made to look as much like Maximus'' armour as possible, though Silvia came in and tried to modernise it to fit more with Ryan''s style, and even added some influences of Tiar''s patterns onto it all to mix in well with the whole image that Silvia wanted to achieve.


    The shoes that were part of the outfit were a little different as well. They were the regular sorts of sneakers that Ryan tended to wear, but parts of it were swapped out for metal plates, and even the parts that weren''t replaced were steel-reinforced. It took Silvia a good week to design it all, and the metalworkers hurried up and prepared all the parts that Silvia couldn''t make, but she was the one that put it all together into the final ''Urban Knight''s Sneakers'' that were proudly at the bottom of the mannequin right now.


    After pulling the hoodie onto the mannequin, Silvia added the vambraces and gauntlets onto its hands, then placed the belts into their positions.


    The patterns, logos and details on the hoodie and trousers lined up well, so did everything on the metal parts and the belts... everything seemed to be looking great. But there was something missing. Something that still felt... off. Like there was one last detail that could tie it all together and boost the effect that she wanted to place onto this.


    Right now, the armour''s main effect was to copy Maximus'' defence ability. Once it was deployed, it should allow Ryan to fill the armour with some of his mana to create a protective layer. That was the effect that was placed onto each individual piece. But together, the whole ''outfit'' was supposed to evoke the image of a knight; specifically, Maximus. This was because Silvia was hoping to be able to copy Maximus'' ''martial knowledge'' skill. Basically, to give Ryan some kind of combat-ability boost. Something like... movement correction. Though, the more Silvia understood that skill, the less possible it seemed. But there had to be something else she could add. Some other boost she could give Ryan.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    She looked around the room. Silvia had been super busy trying out her skills with a lot of different crafts to see what effects she could cause with what. And then, her eyes got caught on an opaque white bottle filled with resin.


    "I''ve got it," Silvia grinned, moving over to her desk. She had seen Maximus'' core, and could remember its colour perfectly. She had tons of alcohol ink, and if she got the mixture right, she should be able to replicate the colour pretty well. Beside that, she had chains, beads, clay and liquid silicon she could use to make moulds... Maybe this could be the last piece.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    With a slight yawn, Ryan stepped off his bike. He''s been doing prep-work for today all night. But he should be awake enough to not jeopardize this. After making sure that he was properly wearing the outfit that Silvia made for him, he summoned all the spirits.


    He gave the special-made backpack to Gaia and made sure it was properly affixed to her stone body, and gave Maximus a shield from one of the belts hanging off him. For his weapon, Maximus chose to start out with Granfell.


    Gregor''s machines were sitting solidly on Gaia''s back as well, and Jester was just excitedly perched on Ryan''s shoulder that he could jump off of at a moment''s notice when needed.


    "Everyone ready?" Ryan asked, and the four spirits nodded their heads. He stepped up to the amusement park''s gates, using the key he got from Runar to unlock the gate. After stepping inside, he locked the gate again, and quickly walked over to the nearby kiosk to grab himself a map.


    It hadn''t changed a ton, but there were some small differences compared to the last time he was here, "Alright, let''s first head to the mascot area. Just to practice with Jester in the formation. Plus, I want to test out the outfit that Silvia made for me," Ryan pointed out, starting to head forward, already making some plans for other areas they could head to soon.


    Obviously, Ryan wasn''t going to be here all day every day again, but he did want to at least farm enough coins to buy all the items for the spirits. He would need a ton of points for that. But all the extra items seemed pretty useful, so Ryan didn''t want to lose out either. Plus, he was sure that there was going to be some hidden reward somewhere that the others hadn''t found yet.


    Sure, most of the awakened combatants in the family that lived around New Riverside were brought here, so the family did know a lot about this dungeon, but it didn''t seem like they found every little secret yet.


    Soon, they had made their way to the plaza where the mascots roamed around. It didn''t take long for Ryan to find the first target either.


    "First, Gregor, Gaia, and Jester, stay back. I wanted to try out something with Maximus," Ryan said, carefully placing the spirits onto Gaia''s backpack. Ryan already debriefed all of them on the plans, so they knew about this beforehand already.


    There was a reason why Ryan wanted to face the mascot with just Maximus first. It was because of this outfit. It felt great to move in, and Ryan had already filled it up with as much mana as he could to increase its defensive capabilities. But there was another effect that only came to be when Ryan put on the necklace that Silvia had made. It was made using cheap, everyday materials, and on its own, it literally had no effect. But when Ryan wore every part of this outfit, including the necklace, a sort of ''synergy'' was supposed to appear.


    Specifically, it was supposed to boost the ''Spirit Link'' skill, strengthening the connection between Ryan and Maximus. The outfit itself was already inspired by the knight spirit, but with the necklace inspired by Maximus'' spirit core, it seemed like everything was pushed right into place. Ryan closed the clasp around his neck, and a certain sensation quickly came over him. It was like a pulse of magic suddenly left his body, while another entered him. It was this constant sense of a ''link'' trying to be formed between him and Maximus. It was off-putting like this, since beside the initial attempt, the link couldn''t come to be just yet. That was why Ryan wasn''t wearing the necklace until now. While it didn''t have this ability on its own, it basically just ''completed'' the picture.


    He then activated the skill, and the link between him and Maximus formed quicker than ever before. It was like a deeper connection than they had before. Ryan could already read the spirits'' intentions pretty well, but now, he didn''t have to guess or think. He just knew exactly what Maximus was trying to do. What he was thinking and feeling. There was already a semblance of this with the regular link, but this was way, way stronger.


    It was like a step before telepathy. He didn''t have to even tell Maximus to rush out toward the nearby Mascot, nor did Maximus need to tell Ryan what he was planning to do. Ryan followed behind the knight, holding the horn in his hand. As he did, water flowed out from it and turned into the form of a larger war-hammer. It was heavy and unhandy, but Ryan was trying to use a wide variety of weapons for now to see if anything would stick.


    Maximus jumped toward the mascot, and the moment he did, Ryan ''unsealed'' him. The knight kept his momentum, but his weight more than doubled. He hit the mascot with a heavy impact, cutting its arm off in a swift motion. Startled, the mascot swung at Maximus, who held the shield, which was a little small right now but still usable, in front of his body. He was thrown away by the strike but didn''t seem to have taken much damage.


    While Maximus made sure to land properly, Ryan took advantage of the fact that the mascot was completely focused on Maximus right now. He tightened his grip on the horn and started swinging. Digging his feet into the ground, Ryan used all his strength to pull the hammer toward the monster. The side of its hip was hit, right where its ribs would be, and Ryan could feel and hear its bones cracking under the impact.


    Of course, the mascots were basically undead; they didn''t feel pain, so blunt attacks weren''t all that useful right now. But Ryan wanted to know how ''realistic'' their bodies actually were. With its hip destroyed, it shouldn''t be able to move as well as before. And just as Ryan thought, as the mascot tried to take a step with that exact leg, it wasn''t able to support its own weight and fell down onto the ground. By then, Maximus had come back and stabbed his sword into the mascot''s eye, before Ryan unsealed the spirit again. The sword doubled in size alongside Maximus, and tore through the mascot''s brain.


    "Perfect," Ryan grinned slightly. A combo attack like this would have been possible otherwise, but never this smoothly. Maximus and Ryan hadn''t even glanced at each other throughout the whole ordeal. If they could act like this even without Ryan wearing this whole outfit, then they would be able to react to an ambush way more easily.


    This was exactly why Richie was such a tough opponent. He was able to control multiple robots at the same time. Multiple opponents that didn''t have to communicate with each other were tough even for highly-skilled fighters. They could set up tricks or plan ahead like no other team could. It was why Anders lost his defensive fight against Richie while trying to protect the bonfire, despite being a technically way stronger fighter.


    The fact that Ryan could link to multiple spirits at once now that the skill reached level 10 was already a great step toward that same direction. Now if the communication between him and the spirits could rise just a little bit more, they should be able to overwhelm way more powerful opponents more easily as well.


    Ryan leaned down and picked up the coin that was dropped by the mascot. But before then, it was time to practice with Jester in the team in the first place.